Zilliman Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 To put it simply. If a button is broken on your UI it is a bug. If a button is missing on your UI it is a design omission. It is the latter which has annoyed players. Like buying a very expensive car now without ABS. Would you be happy with "it took mercedes 20 years to add ABS so do not be an unreasonable customer". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slithers Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Seriously, nobody really cares what you think. This, like the others before it will fall to page two and oblivion in no time. Put it in a note to the Dev team, they will promptly ignore it also. No, I didn't have to read it but I did. So now I give my opinion like you did. PS: They already know the issues with the UI etc.. you yappin is not gonna get it fixed any time soon or even at all. And if you quit a game solely on the minor issues stated above, good riddance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archifikoss Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 You are mostly right with respects that WoW is a much bigger juggernaut in the industry compared to what EQ was upon WoW's launch. It would be definately harder to go up against it, yet Blizzard believe it or not, took considerable design risks upon launch in order to challenge EQ. Blizzard had a clear strategy to challenge the conventions EQ established by trying to make what we take for granted today, a more Accessible style MMO. Now on the other hand, Bioware, has openly admitted they didn't plan to challenge WoW's conventions at all. In doing so, you basically admit your making a game thats just a bunch of plays out of their playbook, this inherently opens you up for comparison to what that product is NOW, not what it was. http://m.tomshardware.com/news/World-of-Warcraft-SWTOR-Greg-Zeschuk-Mike-Morhaime-MMORPG,12174.html If Bioware didn't want to be compared to WoW, they would have opt'ed to make a game that doesn't easily compare to WoW. I'm sure Blizzard did take quite the risk, not denying it... Fortunately for them it payed off - and much more than they ever imagined, I believe! I don't think that Bioware went for the game design they chose in order to compare with WoW. I believe they went with it due to its accessibility and proven success, and maybe also due to their own lack of experience in the MMO genre, preferring to play it safe than to go for a harder to swallow design as they were aiming for as wide an audience as possible. The downside to this is, as you say, the inevitable comparison. Which was the risk they took knowingly. Still, whilst comparisons will be drawn, I think that most people will not bother to dig too deep. After all, they are different games - and it's still too early to judge Bioware accurately. It's only been officially launched for a bit more than a fortnight after all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graydon Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 I'm a huge fan of SWTOR and plan on staying for years go come. In my opinion the issues listed by the OP sure do warrant attention and I expect (with many others) improvements. They sure aren't game breaking, but we should not blow off the OP's statements. The most successful people and companies always look for ways to improve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pvtcarnage Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 All the things mentioned by OP should have been fixed/in game by release. Game was released before it was ready....period Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archifikoss Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 All the things mentioned by OP should have been fixed/in game by release. Game was released before it was ready....period I am enjoying the game and have not faced many serious issues so far (though I do play very casually), but I do think the game could have used a few more months of polishing. I'm willing to give Bioware the time they need anyway - I'm having fun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeSamourai Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 +1 OP I enjoy the game, but I totally agree with you on most of your points, especially the cast bar issue. I have trouble seeing it at times due to its size Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lordgracy Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 This is a post about the reasons I might not continue my subscription. This is not an angry post, nor is it some form of ultimatum. I'm not proclaiming that I want these changes or else I'll quit; rather, I am trying to give constructive feedback on their game, hoping that it will help them going forward with improvements and development of Star Wars: The Old Republic. Naturally, I expect to be ridiculed, flamed, and otherwise insulted for daring to say SWTOR isn't perfect, but here goes. I'd like to start by saying I really enjoyed leveling to Fifty, and I could see myself playing alts and raids, except for a few issues which I will go into in a bit. I think this is a fine game, please don't think I dislike it. But the truth is, it's not holding my interest. Most posts of this nature invariably get the "Go back to WoW!" replies, implying I have no other options, which is not true. I can play Skyrim, or Arkham City, or MW3, or several other games. I can read a book, watch a movie, or any number of activities other than SW:TOR. The other usual reply I see is "Well, Vanilla WoW had it's problems too!" This is correct, however it ignores a simple but powerful truth. When WoW came out, the big dog on the block was Everquest. World of Warcraft, even upon release, was superior to a five-year-old EQ, in almost every respect. The graphics were better, the questing system was better, the gameplay, everything. The same is not true of SWTOR; it may be better than Vanilla WoW, but that was seven years ago. I don't merely want something that is 'different', I want it better. And now, my issues with Star Wars. These are my personal opinions, and I don't expect everyone to agree with me, but if I feel this way I'm sure others do too, so you shouldn't dismiss them out of hand. Also, I won't go into technical issues like queue times or bug, except where I feel they are extremely detrimental to the gameplay experience. Nor will I just wish-list a bunch of stuff which is way out of left field; everything I touch upon will be completely feasible within the design of the game. The lack of a customizable UI is paramount. This is probably the issue which drives me away from the game in the end. I'm not talking about Addons and Macros; I'm talking about the ability to scale and move elements of the UI, either through scripting language (i.e. addons) or built-in controls. At level 50, I find myself watching the action bars during combat, since I have no method of organizing the information the game sends at me. There's no target of target, and the enemy cast bar is tiny and off to the side. At first, it didn't bother me, but as I got more cooldowns and abilities I needed to monitor, I spent less time watching the combat and more time watching little timers on a tiny action bar. I don't know how they could fix this after the fact without adding a scripting API, but I know it's possible. Even Everquest allowed UI modification by the time WoW came out, though it was of a limited nature. Speaking of the UI, there are a few irritating issues I have besides the whole moving/scaling. I hate how the game moves UI elements from Right to Left any time a new UI element opens up, due to only allowing 2 open at a time. Crew missions are really bad about this. Also, /who needs to take a command line parameter. If I type '/who bob' it should open the Who ui with 'Bob' in the search field already. Right now, any use of /who will open the 'Who' UI with the current zone (or your last search) in the search field, necessitating that I change the field to whatever I'm looking for. Also, the Galactic Trade Network needs a complete overhaul. Having two required search fields is aggravating, and they're the wrong fields. I can't search by Slot, for example, nor can I search Crafting Materials by what skill uses them, but rather by which skill produces them. A healthy Auction/Sales system is key to establishing a sense of server community. That, too, is a huge issue: The lack of Server-Specific forums. It's not like they are hard to make; I'm sure the Admin of your website could set them up in a few hours. Right now, I feel *zero* sense of community because I have no means of talking with my fellow server-mates beyond spamming the Imperial Fleet general chat. This is probably the one issue that will doom SWTOR if they don't fix it. People play MMOs to be social, and without a central location to communicate, that feeling of community won't build, and without that, why play? It's just a single player MMO then. TL : DR version: Game needs Customizable UI, better UI and GTN, and Server Forums. Ok, you SWTOR fanboys and WoW Haters, start the flames! But you know a lot of what I say is true. Agree on all points. AH UI is the absolute worst ever. The reason they do this is because bioware cannot handle the load the way they coded the game apparantly. Its the same reason they spilt zones into instances and its the same reason that those said instances only have low numbers of players in them. The core codebase cant handle an open ended search query on the AH and it cant handle more then 40 people in a zone instance. Either that or they are throttling it because they are not confident thier code can handle it. Same reason thier website has a queue on it during high traffic. Big fat fail imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spynnal Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Seriously, nobody really cares what you think. This, like the others before it will fall to page two and oblivion in no time. Put it in a note to the Dev team, they will promptly ignore it also. No, I didn't have to read it but I did. So now I give my opinion like you did. PS: They already know the issues with the UI etc.. you yappin is not gonna get it fixed any time soon or even at all. And if you quit a game solely on the minor issues stated above, good riddance. The OP said he wasn't leaving, and gave solid points, so I cared what he had to say. He added value by pinpointing things that need improved. Your post added little at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onemanlan Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Awesome post by the OP. I agree whole-heartedly with the point he posted especially since he backed up his points with evidence and suggestions to fixes. What I cannot fathom is how people keep jumping it to trash the op while following up their accusations with "But but but this game is only a few weeks old," "It's a good game, you just don't like it," and etc. There are a variety of excuses that fanboys will use to down play the valid opinions of others, but the truth is we all want this game to be better. Some of us see it for what it is, while others are white-knighting this game while simultaneously ignoring the glaring issues within the game in it's current state. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razyr Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Spacebar Classic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodianhutt Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 I know that many have problems with certain parts of this game. Many of these issues will be improved upon with further releases. It is in the best interests of the game designers to respond to their player base. But I do think it is most important for Bioware to continue working on the storyline. Because I think that the Storytelling is what distinguishes this game from all the other MMO's out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moodel Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 I really like this game, and think you make fine points. ^What he said^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belkiratwo Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 your point about custom ui is complete nonsense tell me would you rather have a customizable ui from the start and tons of hackers and botters who would ruin the game for many people or no hackers and botters and get a proper bugfree customization optionmenu just be patient they already said before launch even they would get onto that This is complete nonsense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esaru Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Honestly, you are comparing a game a few weeks old to a game a few years old. And do you honestly remember playing WoW at release? I seem to recall constant server crashes, INCOMPLETE classes (70% of launch classes had no talent tree's, I know my Hunter certainly had none) and most quests worked incorrectly. Sorry but at release EQ was far greater then WoW (And Lineage 2 trumped them both graphically and game play wise, even now Lineage 2 is better looking back then then any modern MMO). If you don't like how things are, please cancel your subscription. Check back in a few months because they are working on improving the game. They are working on fixing the things players want. But they are prioritising. And I would rather they fix game play bugs before making things like customisable UI since the UI, whilst not perfect, is fine in what it does, all it really lacks is target of target. Seriously, comparing a new game to an old one 95% of players never even played at release is pointless. Holy hell, did you read only the first paragraph and then comment? So sad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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