Bioware, You Want to Resuscitate This Game? Then Implement The Following.

[Xugos]

Note: This is simply a list of issues that we all recognize exist. We all want the best for SW:TOR which is why we bought it in the first place, and if Bioware wants send a signal that it is dedicated to this game, then it would be wise to begin communicating and recognizing issues.

 

Edit: I am now understanding that some people disagree with the premise that this thread begins with: that the game is in need of "resuscitation." Please ignore that point momentarily if you disagree.

 

Proof SW:TOR is declining: massively.joystiq.com/2012/01/03/swtor-uk-sales-take-a-dive/

 

http://www.swtorarena.com/statistics

 

The over-all trend diagram says that SW:TOR's population has been dropping by ~4% every single day since the two days after release.

 

It also says that 86% of servers are light, and ~13.5% are standard, and ~0.5% are other.

 

 

Losing 4% of your total subscribers everyday is not something that "always happens to new MMOs."

 

Let's say this: 1.2 million subs right now.

From this it follows that:

 

(1.2 million)(0.96)^30 = 0.293857643(1.2 million) = ~352k subs after 30 days.

This trend is also quite reputable since it has been occurring for the past 2.5 weeks or so.

 

The number of 352 000 subscriptions is lower than Bioware's published break-even point of 500 000 subs. Is this trouble for SW:TOR's future over-all?

 

 

 

 

 

This is alarming news to anyone who realizes that SW:TOR's community is already dispersed in-game as is, will a population drop make implementing cross-server services such as LFG and PvP matchmaker MANDATORY things in order for the game to survive?

 

I believe so, because as is, people spam LFG chat for 40 min - 50 min in order to just look for a group. As the population drops, this will only get worse.

 

Merging servers is also a possibility, but most MMO developers avoid that like the plague since it is a subtle indication that their game is dying.

 

Well, for those of who may know me (because they despise me) from my rampant pre-launch criticisms of this game, including ones derived from beta experience, it's happening. Most of the beta testers' concerns were not addressed, and that leaves us with the current state of the game.

 

SW:TOR is a game with great potential. That being said, MMOs only get one shot, and this is SW:TOR's. Bioware MUST implement the following (a consolidated list of fixes that I have heard demanded by numerous people within the community) before the free 30 days game-time period ends.

 

Degree 1 is composed of things that are imperative to the game's immediate success. These are things that will cause most subscription cancellations within the free 30 days. Bioware has 18 days or so left to address the items within that list (in order to minimize dissatisfied player losses.)

 

Degree 2 is composed of things that they should announce soon, but will likely take a month to a few months to implement.

 

Degree 3 is composed of things that they should announce later on (after the free 30 day period) and things that should be included in the long-term. Degree 3 also has some things that are relatively trivial (such as chat bubbles), but that could be implemented quickly.

 

THE LIST:

 

High Priority (Degree 1):

 

- A customizable UI with third party add-on support. All healers (experienced healers) that I know cringe at the lack of a customizable UI. Click-to-heal made healing fun. Bioware MUST implement this.Ensure mouse-over heal support.

- Increase combat-responsiveness. Having a 1.5-3.0 second delay between the key stroke and the ability executing, even with a 50 ms connection, is UNACCEPTABLE. This game's combat feels incredibly dull, and clunky, and this is one of the reasons for it.

- Add a combat log. I will say this again. ADD A COMBAT LOG. IT IS A *MUST!* A combat log is needed for damage/healing/tank mitigation parses. If you are serious about having guilds progress in non-mediocre PvE content, these are essential.

- ADD TARGET OF TARGET into the game (not the alt +t toggle that isn’t really ToT.) Over-haul the UI in general.

- Fix bugs in general, but most importantly the ones pertaining to the mail system (where an item can be lost forever if the bug occurs.)

- Add FOCUS TARGETS.

- SERVER FORUMS. THIS IS A MUST TO ENSURE THAT A STRONG SERVER-COMMUNITY MANIFESTS ITSELF.

- A fix to optimization issues. Great machines are not running this game so great.

- A fix to delay issues that are not related to latency. People have "50 ms" latency and have a 3-4 second delay on select abilities.

- Improve your servers so that you do not have to create two separate instances for a mere 50 people in a SINGLE sub-zone. That is just asinine and removes the social/community atmosphere from the game. I bought an MMORPG, not a single-player Mass Effect RPG.

- Better customer support. Hire MORE people, HAND THEM a company policy book, and GET them helping people out. No excuse for not having enough people when you knew how much traffic there would be on launch day.

 

 

 

Medium Priority (Degree 2):

- Have community managers COMMUNICATE to the player base that Bioware understands our issues and is working diligently on fixing them. As of now, it appears as though y'all are pretending NOTHING is wrong. Wake up.

 

- Dissolve the universal PvP bracket. Put in SPECIALIZED PvP brackets instead. A 1-49 bracket and then a 50 bracket would be a great start, but preferrably, just do a 1-30, 30-49, and then a 50 bracket. If the player base grows further (big if here), then dissect the brackets further and specialize them to an even greater extent. A level 50 has much more utility and more abilities in its arsenal than a level 15. Even if they have the same stats, that is UNFAIR because the level 50 has a vested advantage. That's why there should always be brackets, albeit with the boost system retained.

- Overhaul the auction house system (GTN.) Add a search option, remove the 50 item limit on your auctions, and add bid/buyout functionality that isn't feudalistic and outdated.

- Work towards providing the PvP community with something with more longevity and something that fosters community. That something is an arena system with arena maps. This would go a LONG way for the PvP community.

- ADD MACROS.

- Allow people to queue for SPECIFIC WARZONES.

- More camera options. THE OPTION TO DISABLE "SMART CAMERA PIVOT" SHOULD BE IMPLEMENTED!

- Implement a threat parse so that tanks can actually gage how much threat they have on targets. Right now, they are in the dark and they have a disproportionally stressful job. I can personally testify that I don't know a single person, nor do I think such a person exists or is common, that appreciates the current system of things pertaining to threat.

- Increase the number of players allowed on a server. Don't hide subscription numbers by artificially inflating server size. Reportedly, only 2000-2500 players are allowed per server, which is horrible. Bump that number up significantly, even if it is done gradually, or you're in trouble. The game world is already pretty empty in some places as is.

- An LFG system over-haul. I'm not saying it should be automated and teleport you to the location of whatever it is you're doing like WoW does, but there needs to be increased support for this. Perhaps introducing a channel with some extra features dedicated to creating groups would do it. A pre-patch 3.1 WoW LFG system (one without cross-server and instance teleportation) system would also be advisable.

- Fix graphical optimization bugs - i.e. random FPS drops. Many, many people (including myself) are reporting random FPS drops in areas such as the Republic Fleet's various areas.

 

 

 

Low Priority (Degree 3):

 

- Guild bank and a better guild interface. Add options to mass invite all players of x, y, z criteria to a raid group, for example.

- Address content-related player concerns. Let us know what the horizon is bringing, and by this I mean, RELEASE MORE OPERATIONS/WARZONES and RATED WARZONES and give us an estimated time of arrival that is not too far off.

- A space overhaul. Not sure if the Hero engine can handle it, but space combat is just abysmal after the first few flying sortees. Something closer to SWG space but IMPROVED because this is 2011 and not 2004 would be required.

- Chat bubbles (with the option to disable for those of us who are introverted within the community, myself included.)

- Buy a better swtor.com server. No reason why your WEBSITE should have queues when practically every MMO, including ones that have been less or more successful, did not have queues at launch, nevermind post-launch.

- Fix aesthetic bugs, such as ones with the apparent color of armor (some helmets turn up unnaturally black, etc.)

- Add a fail safe (purchase confirmation) to item purchases and skill learns. Many people have lost commendations/credits for accidentally misclicking while using a high-sensitivity/DPI mouse and purchasing the wrong item.

- Re-instate the appearance unifier, even if temporarily. No reason why a battle-hardened Trooper should look literally like a clown with a rain-bow themed assortment of ballistic armor plates.

- Allow a hood-down option for some robes. Some races, such as Twi'leks, have immense problems with hoods, so this option would do them a favor.

Let me know if I missed something. The aforementioned were the most common issues presented to myself by other members of this community.

 

 

If you support this list or want to petition me to add something to it, please say so.

 

TL;DR: pick a random spot on the list and read it. See if you agree.

 

 

That's the list. It's your choice to make this game or break it, Bioware.

Ball's in your court.

It's a check, but will it be a check-mate?

 

Your move.

Edited January 15, 2012 by Xugos

[Noviru]

Hello everyone!

 

We have recreated this thread because it has reached our post threshold of 1,000. Feel free to use this new thread to continue the discussion. We would also like to point out the following post from the Developer Tracker from Stephen Reid regarding requests.

 

Original Post

Unfortunately, not every part of a game's development is an equal sized task, and we must prioritize fixes as best we can.

 

To speak to your example, while you may have never seen someone ask for emoting from a mount, it may still have been asked for (either in threads you've not seen, or in bug reports, for example). It's also possible this was a fix that was being worked on before launch, and has only just now made it into the game, or that fixing this bug clears the way for other bugs to be fixed, or that adding it allows other features to be implemented. And sometimes, it's just something we wanted to fix.

 

While we cannot acknowledge every single post and every single request made on these Forums, we're reading and passing on the desires to the development team. Every major request that's been made by players since launch is being discussed and prioritized. That doesn't mean every feature requested will make it into the game - we'd end up developing a very schizophrenic game if we did that. However many requested features will ultimately end up in the game.

 

While I'd suggest everyone does check the Dev Tracker from time to time, you should also keep an eye on our new Community Blog, which has already hosted a post from James Ohlen about some future features, and will have more insights as we go forward into additions to the game.

 

The team is hard at work on improving and where required fixing the game. Not every fix is easy and not every feature can be added overnight, but we'll continue to work to make the game even better.

 

A reminder that regardless of the topic, it is part of our Rules of Conduct that:

• 
  
• Never insult another member of the community.
  
• Respect other community members, whether they agree with you or not.
  
• Flag, don't fight. Use the "flag" feature to report posts to our Community Team if you see someone breaking the rules – don't respond to them!
  
• Make constructive, on-topic posts that add to the discussion.
  

Thank you for understanding.

Edited January 5, 2012 by Artthen
fixed typo

[ChuCrunka]

Normally I hate lists like this but you mentioned everything I dont like about the game. Other than chat bubbles...ew.

[TeddyBearSniper]

Please add:

 

- tactics menu(like in dragon age)

- full screen character sheet and character model zoom/rotate in character sheet

- LARGER text

- more toggle options, like shoulder pads and helmet

- Pants and tabards for SI

- competitive cantina mini-games, because damn do they look empty

[Papazooki]

Here we go...

 

Haters vs Fanboys ROUND 2! FIGHT!!

 

*popcorn*

[MJHoyle]

I kinda stopped reading after the list turned from a request of features to a request to fix bugs. btw there already is a focus target feature, go look it up in your preferences controls and preferences > key bindings > targetting. It's currently bound to ALT-F and on default is disabled. Edited January 5, 2012 by MJHoyle

[Garlandgrey]

 

TL;DR: pick a random spot on the list and read it. See if you agree.

 

I did and its funny, I landed on:

 

- Fix graphical optimization bugs - i.e. random FPS drops. Many, many people (including myself) are reporting random FPS drops in areas such as the Republic Fleet's various areas.

 

easily my main performance issue

Edited January 5, 2012 by Garlandgrey

[Hellyeah_Rook]

Basically make this game like WoW. But in space.

[MJHoyle]

Basically make this game like WoW. But in space.

 

No, never ever EVER make it like WoW. I don't need another fudged-up WoW clone thank you very much.

[Hellyeah_Rook]

But that's basically what he is asking for.

[stitchersflock]

Note: This is simply a list of issues that we all recognize exist. We all want the best for SW:TOR which is why we bought it in the first place, and if Bioware wants send a signal that it is dedicated to this game, then it would be wise to begin communicating and recognizing issues.

 

Edit: I am now understanding that some people disagree with the premise that this thread begins with: that the game is in need of "resuscitation." Please ignore that point momentarily if you disagree.

 

Proof SW:TOR is declining: massively.joystiq.com/2012/01/03/swtor-uk-sales-take-a-dive/

 

Well, for those of who may know me (because they despise me) from my rampant pre-launch criticisms of this game, including ones derived from beta experience, it's happening. Most of the beta testers' concerns were not addressed, and that leaves us with the current state of the game.

 

SW:TOR is a game with great potential. That being said, MMOs only get one shot, and this is SW:TOR's. Bioware MUST implement the following (a consolidated list of fixes that I have heard demanded by numerous people within the community) before the free 30 days game-time period ends.

 

THE LIST:

 

- Chat bubbles (with the option to disable for those of us who are introverted within the community, myself included.)

- Increase combat-responsiveness. Having a 1.5-3.0 second delay between the key stroke and the ability executing, even with a 50 ms connection, is UNACCEPTABLE. This game's combat feels incredibly dull, and clunky, and this is one of the reasons for it.

- Add a combat log. I will say this again. ADD A COMBAT LOG. IT IS A *MUST!* A combat log is needed for damage/healing/tank mitigation parses. If you are serious about having guilds progress in non-mediocre PvE content, these are essential.

- ADD TARGET OF TARGET into the game. Over-haul the UI in general.

- Fix bugs in general, but most importantly the ones pertaining to the mail system (where an item can be lost forever if the bug occurs.)

- Add FOCUS TARGETS.

- Fix graphical optimization bugs - i.e. random FPS drops. Many, many people (including myself) are reporting random FPS drops in areas such as the Republic Fleet's various areas.

- Fix aesthetic bugs, such as ones with the apparent color of armor (some helmets turn up unnaturally black, etc.)

- Add a fail safe (purchase confirmation) to item purchases and skill learns. Many people have lost commendations/credits for accidentally misclicking while using a high-sensitivity/DPI mouse and purchasing the wrong item.

- Overhaul the auction house system (GTN.) Add a search option, remove the 50 item limit on your auctions, and add bid/buyout functionality that isn't feudalistic and outdated.

- SERVER FORUMS. THIS IS A MUST TO ENSURE THAT A STRONG SERVER-COMMUNITY MANIFESTS ITSELF!

- Guild bank and a better guild interface. Add options to mass invite all players of x, y, z criteria to a raid group, for example.

- More camera options. THE OPTION TO DISABLE "SMART CAMERA PIVOT" SHOULD BE IMPLEMENTED!

- Implement a threat parse so that tanks can actually gage how much threat they have on targets. Right now, they are in the dark and they have a disproportionally stressful job. I can personally testify that I don't know a single person, nor do I think such a person exists or is common, that appreciates the current system of things pertaining to threat.

- An LFG system over-haul. I'm not saying it should be automated and teleport you to the location of whatever it is you're doing like WoW does, but there needs to be increased support for this. Perhaps introducing a channel with some extra features dedicated to creating groups would do it.

- Improve your servers so that you do not have to create two separate instances for a mere 50 people in a SINGLE sub-zone. That is just asinine and removes the social/community atmosphere from the game. I bought an MMORPG, not a single-player Mass Effect RPG.

- Fix accessibility to PvP gear. As it stands, many are reporting it is MUCH TOO EASY to acquire.

- Allow people to queue for SPECIFIC WARZONES.

- ADD MACROS.

- A customizable UI with third party add-on support. All healers (experienced healers) that I know cringe at the lack of a customizable UI. Click-to-heal made healing fun. Bioware MUST implement this.

- >>>>>>>Ensure mouse-over heal support.<<<<<<<

- A fix to optimization issues. Great machines are not running this game so great.

- A fix to delay issues that are not related to latency. People have "50 ms" latency and have a 3-4 second delay on select abilities.

- Better customer support. Hire MORE people, HAND THEM a company policy book, and GET them helping people out. No excuse for not having enough people when you knew how much traffic there would be on launch day.

- Buy a better swtor.com server. No reason why your WEBSITE should have queues when practically every MMO, including ones that have been less or more successful, did not have queues at launch, nevermind post-launch.

- Increase the number of players allowed on a server. Don't hide subscription numbers by artificially inflating server size. Reportedly, only 2000-2500 players are allowed per server, which is horrible. Bump that number up significantly, even if it is done gradually, or you're in trouble. The game world is already pretty empty in some places as is.

- Re-instate the appearance unifier, even if temporarily. No reason why a battle-hardened Trooper should look literally like a clown with a rain-bow themed assortment of ballistic armor plates.

- Have community managers COMMUNICATE to the player base that Bioware understands our issues and is working diligently on fixing them. As of now, it appears as though y'all are pretending NOTHING is wrong. Wake up.

- Dissolve the universal PvP bracket. Put in SPECIALIZED PvP brackets instead. A 1-49 bracket and then a 50 bracket would be a great start, but preferrably, just do a 1-30, 30-49, and then a 50 bracket. If the player base grows further (big if here), then dissect the brackets further and specialize them to an even greater extent. A level 50 has much more utility and more abilities in its arsenal than a level 15. Even if they have the same stats, that is UNFAIR because the level 50 has a vested advantage. That's why there should always be brackets, albeit with the boost system retained.

- Work towards providing the PvP community with something with more longevity and something that fosters community. That something is an arena system with arena maps. This would go a LONG way for the PvP community.

- Address content-related player concerns. Let us know what the horizon is bringing, and by this I mean, RELEASE MORE OPERATIONS/WARZONES and RATED WARZONES and give us an estimated time of arrival that is not too far off.

- A space overhaul. Not sure if the Hero engine can handle it, but space combat is just abysmal after the first few flying sortees. Something closer to SWG space but IMPROVED because this is 2011 and not 2004 would be required.

 

 

 

Let me know if I missed something. The aforementioned were the most common issues presented to myself by other members of this community.

 

 

If you support this list or want to petition me to add something to it, please say so.

 

TL;DR: pick a random spot on the list and read it. See if you agree.

 

 

That's the list. It's your choice to make this game or break it, Bioware.

Ball's in your court.

It's a check, but will it be a check-mate?

 

NO quitely simply NO ... just because you want to turn this game into every other generic, crappy MMO out there doesn't mean that's what the silent majority wants. Specifically, the GTN is just fine! Honest to god, turning it into an Auction House will do horrible things to the economy and allow for more credit farming and more failure to loot node issues. If you don't like the price on something don't buy it. GTN works beautifully as a marketplace and not an acution house! The search features work just fine and dandy, oh wait you have to have some patience and intelligence to recognize that.

 

Sorry just because you don't like the game and are pissed off that Bioware didn't implement your allegedly fabulous and mandatory demands from beta, does not mean that the game is deeply flawed,

 

And dear god, PLEASE NO ADDONS BIOWARE! Honestly, if you need the crutch of addons to play this game or any other I pity you. Go play some other game! Universal PVP is awesome and unique and is definitely a positive feature for me. Don't like it, don't play it.

 

As for community managers, seriously why should they hire people to cater to those that whine and moan and complain? Just because you are the loudest, squeakiest wheel doesn't entitle you to preferential treatment. I rarely visit the forums because of posts like these and the flames that immediately follow whenever you post anything that supports the game and BW. Honestly, if anything I wish BW would scrub the forums of negative comments and whines so that actual players who enjoy the game could find answers and ask questions without fear of harassment.

 

As for the decline in sales, what did you expect the holiday season is over and the pre-release hype is concluded? LOL I'm quite sure Bioware is in a much better position to analyze their financial numbers and state of the game than you or some blog site with guess for sales.

[IceJudge]

Day and night cycle *cough cough*

 

The rest are great ideas as well.

Edited January 5, 2012 by IceJudge

[Darkmagicxk]

This guy hit it dead on.

 

The only option I can elaborate further on off the top of my head is the camera features.

 

-allow detached (non angle locking) camera.

 

why?

 

-tanking a boss that requires movement, and spawning adds that require instant aggro pickup

-kiting

-more examples if needed I'm just too lazy to type them.

[Iceydeadppl]

..........

.

- ADD MACROS.

- A customizable UI with third party add-on support. All healers (experienced healers) that I know cringe at the lack of a customizable UI. Click-to-heal made healing fun. Bioware MUST implement this.

- >>>>>>>Ensure mouse-over heal support.<<<<<<<

 

......

 

 

[/u] [/size][/b]

 

Agree with most of the post but this caught special attention. I enjoy playing a healer but won't with the present state of the interface.

 

Mouse-over targeting and a customizable UI are and absolute minimum for me!

 

Without out that I'll continue to dps to level cap and stick around until bored. (45 on my sorc now.) It is just painful trying to heal in this present state.

[Garlandgrey]

Basically make this game like WoW. But in space.

 

what are you guys talking about? this game is exactly like wow, all the way down to the damn tokens you get for boss kills

[MJHoyle]

Actually I wouldn't mind a more greater serach criteria on the GTN. At the moment it's not an issue searching for things, but given time the GTN will fill up and trying to find that one hat amongst hundreds of shoes, gloves, robes, etc will become a real hassle. We'll have to see if the GTN really takes off first though.

[vosspacer]

No, never ever EVER make it like WoW. I don't need another fudged-up WoW clone thank you very much.

 

I concur. I stopped playing wow for a reason.

[LoL-K-Noob]

Everyone should know Xugos is a liar and spreads misinformation. He claimed to be a full time tester, but then makes a thread asking if his computer can run the game. Knowing his foolishness he edits his post, but it was too late since someone quoted him. Of course this was all before the forum wipe.

 

We still have this thread created by him at mmo-champion:

 

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1025596-A-FULL-and-TOTAL-Review-Of-SW-TOR-From-An-Experienced-Beta-Tester-(NO-SPOILERS

 

The kid creates an alt named Thraxx to further troll and gets banned.

[Captain_Failure]

I wasn't aware SWTOR died?

[wanderica]

I both agree and disagree with some of your points. Graphical issues are VERY hard to nail down. Do you have any idea how many DXdiag logs these guys are sifting through just to find that needle in the haystack? I'm not saying it's excusable, but I am saying it takes time. Some of these issues in games don't manifest themselves until you have massive numbers playing (for example, the preview weekends, and EGA).

 

Things like the UI are very important to me personally. SWTOR IS a quality game, but overlay issues with the UI, unmovable raid frames that overlap an unmovable hotbar, no UI scaling, and the strict no addon stance are all unacceptable. The UI was reworked from the ground up because of player dislike, so I fail to see why this huge oversight in development occurred in the first place. Just give us the ability to unlock, and move UI frames (like LotRO) and I'll be happy.

 

Implement a threat parse so that tanks can actually gage how much threat they have on targets. Right now, they are in the dark and they have a disproportionally stressful job. I can personally testify that I don't know a single person, nor do I think such a person exists or is common, that appreciates the current system of things pertaining to threat.

 

This, however, I very much disagree with. I have few issues with agro management as a Juggernaut tank. While Omen, and even KTM back in the day were great tools, they were hardly necessary for a GOOD tank to do his job. Being a tank is about more than just surviving and holding agro. It's about keeping the group alive. Essentially, you're the yin to a healer's yang. I keep the group healed by taking their damage. Situational awareness, and the ability to judge MOB priority is a lost art among tanks these days, and we have Omen and KTM to thank for it. It's not hard to figure out what your group can handle, and what they cannot. Through proper MOB placement, proper ability/resource use, proper gearing, a high level of awareness, and COMMUNICATION, one can tank just fine.

 

A threat meter should be a comfort, nothing more.

[Danetrain]

Damage and threat meters are a must. How else can you measure how well you're playing DPS/Tank?

 

(If you're afraid of these, it's because you have problems with accountability. People who want to get better at the game and are serious about content need a measuring stick.)

[wanderica]

Damage and threat meters are a must. How else can you measure how well you're playing DPS/Tank?

 

(If you're afraid of these, it's because you have problems with accountability. People who want to get better at the game and are serious about content need a measuring stick.)

 

Not true. The goal isn't to be the highest damage or to be the tank with the highest threat. It's to complete the encounter. As a tank, that means not letting your group die. That's all. People that are truly serious about content understand this.

 

The ability to parse via combat log, I don't disagree with at all, and I think it should be a top priority, but it does NOT need to be manifested by way of an in game epeen measuring stick. It simply isn't necessary. With nothing more than a combat log, a simple backgroud parsing program can gather all of the data you need.

[Smartpatrol]

here is my list not including the ones listed by the OP:

 

• the pathetic UI that won’t let you have more than two windows open at one time(companion mission return closes the GTM window you spent 5 minutes setting up to find what you are looking for….GRRRR!)

• no auto stack from inventory to bank…seriously?.

• Can’t tell if I already have a recipe before I buy it and or scribe a new one.

• no easy way to compare equipments mods/enhancements outside of inventory

• Amateurish development; seriously you can’t put a mask on the price field when posting an item on the GTM to screen out a zero rather than having a default value of 1 in the field?

 

 

Obvious Graphics Glitches:

• Mirrored eyes/black eyes in quest cut scenes.

• Graphic artifacts eminating from lamps.

 

I get the impression that the developers of this game have never played another MMO or have anyone on staff with large MMO experience. I guess Trion pays better. The litmouse test is what you guys do after release so far the patching has been pretty meek and hasn't addressed any meat and potatoes issues.

Edited January 5, 2012 by Smartpatrol

[Ceridan]

Well... let's go! Parsing time!

- Chat bubbles (with the option to disable for those of us who are introverted within the community, myself included.)

This game will fail if chat bubbles are not implemented? really? REALLY?

 

- Increase combat-responsiveness. Having a 1.5-3.0 second delay between the key stroke and the ability executing, even with a 50 ms connection, is UNACCEPTABLE. This game's combat feels incredibly dull, and clunky, and this is one of the reasons for it.

Unacceptable? well interrupts are not affected so that's not as bad of a problem. But I do agree that sometimes Riposte takes a long time to actually work.

- Add a combat log. I will say this again. ADD A COMBAT LOG. IT IS A *MUST!* A combat log is needed for damage/healing/tank mitigation parses. If you are serious about having guilds progress in non-mediocre PvE content, these are essential.

It's a nice to have... but not necessary... unless you are in a guild of people who really want to down the big bad instance boss in the first week or so...

- ADD TARGET OF TARGET into the game. Over-haul the UI in general.

Yes, this is a good idea...

- Fix bugs in general, but most importantly the ones pertaining to the mail system (where an item can be lost forever if the bug occurs.)

Yes bugs are bad, however, games like MMOs are complex things... I would prefer that they take their time fixing flaws instead of rushing a fix that would break something else.

- Add FOCUS TARGETS.

Good idea.

- Fix graphical optimization bugs - i.e. random FPS drops. Many, many people (including myself) are reporting random FPS drops in areas such as the Republic Fleet's various areas.

errm you allready talked about bugs before...

- Fix aesthetic bugs, such as ones with the apparent color of armor (some helmets turn up unnaturally black, etc.)

stop repeating yourself... mentioning fixing bugs in a list multiple times is really well... repetitive.

- Add a fail safe (purchase confirmation) to item purchases and skill learns. Many people have lost commendations/credits for accidentally misclicking while using a high-sensitivity/DPI mouse and purchasing the wrong item.

Agreed.

- Overhaul the auction house system (GTN.) Add a search option, remove the 50 item limit on your auctions, and add bid/buyout functionality that isn't feudalistic and outdated.

There's a search option already, it works well, but removing the requirement for the text search would be a great idea.

The 50 item limit ok, I don't see why someone would reach 50 items unless they are farming.

- SERVER FORUMS. THIS IS A MUST TO ENSURE THAT A STRONG SERVER-COMMUNITY MANIFESTS ITSELF!

This is not necessary, once again a nice thign to have but not necessary.

- Guild bank and a better guild interface. Add options to mass invite all players of x, y, z criteria to a raid group, for example.

Guild bank would be nice, a better guild interface is needed, option to mass invite? not needed, and would be a pain for larger guilds, a guild calendar to schedule events would be a better avenue... but that would be coping a copy of a mod so... nice to have, but not necessary.

- More camera options. THE OPTION TO DISABLE "SMART CAMERA PIVOT" SHOULD BE IMPLEMENTED!

????? errm why???? I don't see the need really. oh... I never use keyboard turns.

- Implement a threat parse so that tanks can actually gage how much threat they have on targets. Right now, they are in the dark and they have a disproportionally stressful job. I can personally testify that I don't know a single person, nor do I think such a person exists or is common, that appreciates the current system of things pertaining to threat.

Threat parse is nice, but not necessary. Infact I rather enjoy the challenge of tanking without a threat meter....

- An LFG system over-haul. I'm not saying it should be automated and teleport you to the location of whatever it is you're doing like WoW does, but there needs to be increased support for this. Perhaps introducing a channel with some extra features dedicated to creating groups would do it.

you know you can just use LFG as the search term in the /who window right?

I would prefer, btw, not to add an automation for lfging... the current system is fine. but maybie having a tab called LFG that does what the currrent /who do with LFG as a search therm would be better... since people think it's soo hard to type LFG. (a global LFG chat is a bad idea, too many trolls).

- Improve your servers so that you do not have to create two separate instances for a mere 50 people in a SINGLE sub-zone. That is just asinine and removes the social/community atmosphere from the game. I bought an MMORPG, not a single-player Mass Effect RPG.

I actually prefer not having a Lagaran, or a Lag Jeuno(sp?) or a Lagforge. It also allows a better chance of killing quest related mob then having 200+ players in the same zone...

- Fix accessibility to PvP gear. As it stands, many are reporting it is MUCH TOO EASY to acquire.

Well I can't fault this...

- Allow people to queue for SPECIFIC WARZONES.

And never see Huttball? What's the mather? oh... you chooose the most populated faction, ofcourse you'll get to see more Huttball... Now you see why I hate Sith Sorceror soo mutch

- ADD MACROS.

Macros are good... but can lead to abuse... They must be careful in adding something that allows parsing of client provided code.

- A customizable UI with third party add-on support. All healers (experienced healers) that I know cringe at the lack of a customizable UI. Click-to-heal made healing fun. Bioware MUST implement this.

NO, addons are a bane, because the first addon will be the eepeen meter(also known as DPS meter).

While addons are great in the fact that they can be used by the devs to see what improvements they need on their UI, they can be abused by elitist morons who thinks that I care about then 20k dps... that they can output for about half a second before dieing because they did not move out of the particle effect...

 

Mods also takes ressources that are better spent on the game...

- >>>>>>>Ensure mouse-over heal support.<<<<<<<

Mouse-0ver heal support???? errrm what?

- A fix to optimization issues. Great machines are not running this game so great.

And yet you want mods?

- A fix to delay issues that are not related to latency. People have "50 ms" latency and have a 3-4 second delay on select abilities.

Will you stop repeating yourself?, Yea I get it, delay issue sucks I know I am a victim of that issue, but repeating it in the same list won't make it a priority, it only make you look errrm... repetitive...

- Better customer support. Hire MORE people, HAND THEM a company policy book, and GET them helping people out. No excuse for not having enough people when you knew how much traffic there would be on launch day.

There's soo mutch you can do. Throwing money at the problem(IE: Hiring more tech support from India) wont always solve said problem.

- Buy a better swtor.com server. No reason why your WEBSITE should have queues when practically every MMO, including ones that have been less or more successful, did not have queues at launch, nevermind post-launch.

Are you delusionnal to think that the wow webserver runs on a Single server?

Webservers usually runs on multiple servers with a load balancer that distribute the load. Instead of buying a single server, they should invest in more servers they can dedicate to webservice... but that's probably EA's problem not Bioware...

- Increase the number of players allowed on a server. Don't hide subscription numbers by artificially inflating server size. Reportedly, only 2000-2500 players are allowed per server, which is horrible. Bump that number up significantly, even if it is done gradually, or you're in trouble. The game world is already pretty empty in some places as is.

The question is: can they support more people without having too mutch lag?

Servers are not somekind of magic boxes... they have a limit for processing power, amount of concurrent connetions and memory... like your own PC.

- Re-instate the appearance unifier, even if temporarily. No reason why a battle-hardened Trooper should look literally like a clown with a rain-bow themed assortment of ballistic armor plates.

But what about people who wants to look like clowns?

- Have community managers COMMUNICATE to the player base that Bioware understands our issues and is working diligently on fixing them. As of now, it appears as though y'all are pretending NOTHING is wrong. Wake up.

Well while CM's should be more active... it would depend on how many CMs they have...

- Dissolve the universal PvP bracket. Put in SPECIALIZED PvP brackets instead. A 1-49 bracket and then a 50 bracket would be a great start, but preferrably, just do a 1-30, 30-49, and then a 50 bracket. If the player base grows further (big if here), then dissect the brackets further and specialize them to an even greater extent. A level 50 has much more utility and more abilities in its arsenal than a level 15. Even if they have the same stats, that is UNFAIR because the level 50 has a vested advantage. That's why there should always be brackets, albeit with the boost system retained.

I found this universal PvP bracket an interesting concept. This system is perhaps flawed but not completly broken. This system prevents the problem of lack of players to fill a bracket.

- Work towards providing the PvP community with something with more longevity and something that fosters community. That something is an arena system with arena maps. This would go a LONG way for the PvP community.

NO, NO AREA MAPS, WoW's PvE balance is out of wack because of arenas...

- Address content-related player concerns. Let us know what the horizon is bringing, and by this I mean, RELEASE MORE OPERATIONS/WARZONES and RATED WARZONES and give us an estimated time of arrival that is not too far off.

Please be patient, and if your already at level 50 with one character, just level another class. The game has enough variation to last a while. Ops/warzones will come.

- A space overhaul. Not sure if the Hero engine can handle it, but space combat is just abysmal after the first few flying sortees. Something closer to SWG space but IMPROVED because this is 2011 and not 2004 would be required.

Space combat is currently reminding me of Starfox (I wish we had the face of some guy named "Commander Salt" saying "Do a barrel roll!"). I heard that they are working on interesting systems for ship combat. But as I mentionned earlier... games are complex software, I would prefer that they don't rush something full of design flaws because of the "I HARE HATE STARFAX!!!!" crowd.

 

 

PS: No I am no fanboi, but then again, this game is barely out... give it time, like you must have WoW, Rift, and all the other games. As long as EA does not pull off another stunt like Earth and Beyond, we should be ok(aka: shut the game down after a year to put ressources in Sims Online...)

 

PSS: Please forgive spelling/grammar mistakes, English is not my native language(and i'm no ace writer in French either), and it's currently 2AM so my writing skills are currently addled because of being tired (one more loading screen and i'm off to bed).

Edited January 5, 2012 by Ceridan

[Xugos]

Whoa, looks like my thread got resuscitated. o.o