Why SWTOR is more of a Single-Player game than an MMO

[Beamermichel]

how in the world is this like a single player game?

 

-In wow you quest solo..... in this game you quest solo but group for heroic quest (more group)

 

-in wow you dont ever leave town, and just afk using lfg tool to do group dungeons(never interact with anyone). In this game you go find people to do flashpoints, interact with the community. I actually got a friends list now, and i seen more people i grouped with before.

 

-pvp ok..... pretty much same as wows bgs. group up and fight.

 

 

1) in SWTOR you are worse off if other players are also questing in the same area: The quest mechanics are such that other players can steal your kill or delay you from reaching your objective; seriosly?

 

you say it feels like a single player game but then you complain there are people there to compete for your quest objectives? your 1&2 make no sense..... i see people all the time.

 

3) furthermore, the gameworld is designed as a series of corridors that segregates people; Ok let me explain this to you.... in the green story corridors..... you cant make it open. if people made 2 different choices it would be impossible to please both of the choices.

[ryanvward]

 

There are tools just no one uses them. Educate your self to the LFG function of the who window.

 

 

Your point is moot. Not a single other person has been flagged as LFG on any of the last 3 planets I have been on. Hoth, Belsavis or Bonus: Alderaan.

[Xerda]

It does seem very quiet so I can see where you are coming from. The number of other people around you levelling can vary a lot and some planets I've been on had less than 30 people.

 

It is an MMO obviously but that's not to say it doesn't feel more like a Co-op or single player to some people.

 

I am hoping once I hit 50 things will seem more busy

[NinjaRockStar]

I beg to differ.

[Seifz]

You apparently weren't around during launch of any expansion in WoW. No rate of spawning could keep up with the number of players. They would have to literally respawn instantly to keep up and they never did. Vashir was the biggest cluster**** I've ever seen in a game to date.

 

I was around for the launch of every expansion of WoW. Blizzard had two solutions to this problem and both are better than sharding.

 

1. There's more than one starting zone. You didn't have to do Vashj'ir first. I didn't.

 

2. The quest objectives respawn at a rate proportional to their use, as I stated earlier. It's possible that this rate is capped to prevent instant respawns, but that probably only matters for the first few hours after launch.

[HeroXx]

You aren't paying attention to this game then. They are phasing out the sharding. Had over 100 people on Drommund Kass and only 1 shard. Bioware's idea has worked a ton better.

 

Sure, by phasing out you mean maintaining the same caps? Different planets appear to have different caps 100 people on a planet is easy we normally have multiple hundreds in different shards on our server.

 

Was utterly disappointed when I saw sharding in this game, though developers had realised by now that with current server technology there should be no need for it.

[Andryah]

Some of those same posters are now calling it a single player game.

 

biploar behaviors in MMO communities? I'm shocked!

 

Its an MMO, with the ability to play it as single player, by choice, or due to intellectual or emotional constraints that prohibit taking advantage of all that a game has to offer.

[Juntts]

These are the main reasons why I quit this game.

[ryanvward]

Sure, by phasing out you mean maintaining the same caps? Different planets appear to have different caps 100 people on a planet is easy we normally have multiple hundreds in different shards on our server.

 

Was utterly disappointed when I saw sharding in this game, though developers had realised by now that with current server technology there should be no need for it.

 

I wasn't disappointed at first. However, I find myself more and more unable to defend BioWare, because the farther I get in the game the more I am starting to agree with the OP.

 

I consider myself a fanboy of SWTOR, but lately I am just feeling lonely past 45, nobody even bothers grouping. I think people are either using classes that are overpowered, or just skipping over the 4-Man Quests.

[Noth]

I was around for the launch of every expansion of WoW. Blizzard had two solutions to this problem and both are better than sharding.

 

1. There's more than one starting zone. You didn't have to do Vashj'ir first. I didn't.

 

2. The quest objectives respawn at a rate proportional to their use, as I stated earlier. It's possible that this rate is capped to prevent instant respawns, but that probably only matters for the first few hours after launch.

 

Niether worked as good as sharding that is phased out. the sharding is getting phased out.

 

1) both starting areas were always crammed negating the benefit of two starting areas (TOR technically has 4 starting areas anyways)

 

2) They never respawned fast enough to keep up with traffic.

[Noth]

Sure, by phasing out you mean maintaining the same caps? Different planets appear to have different caps 100 people on a planet is easy we normally have multiple hundreds in different shards on our server.

 

Was utterly disappointed when I saw sharding in this game, though developers had realised by now that with current server technology there should be no need for it.

 

Drommond kass used to begin sharding at 100 players meaning anything over 100 would split into two shards. It's not splitting at 100 anymore. That means the cap is being raised and even possibly removed. I actually have yet, since the patch be on a planet with multiple shards and I'm on a server that is almost always full.

[Seifz]

Niether worked as good as sharding that is phased out. the sharding is getting phased out.

 

1) both starting areas were always crammed negating the benefit of two starting areas (TOR technically has 4 starting areas anyways)

 

2) They never respawned fast enough to keep up with traffic.

 

I haven't experienced this phase out that you keep mentioning. I was in Tatooine(1) last night with fewer than 50 players and there was a second Tatooine shard running.

 

1. If you want to talk about technical starting areas, WoW has more than four. I was making the point that unlike SW:TOR, players have a choice of zones for any given character level. SW:TOR's progression is linear.

 

2. Yes, they do. I see objective respawn within seconds all the time. The only time you might have run into trouble is on launch day. We're way past that point now in SW:TOR.

 

EDIT: And come to think of it, I was playing at midnight when Cataclysm launched and I had no trouble at all in Hyjal.

Edited January 7, 2012 by Seifz

[princey]

Drommond kass used to begin sharding at 100 players meaning anything over 100 would split into two shards. It's not splitting at 100 anymore. That means the cap is being raised and even possibly removed. I actually have yet, since the patch be on a planet with multiple shards and I'm on a server that is almost always full.

 

Looks like it's sharding at 200 now. I call that an improvement.

 

I haven't experienced this phase out that you keep mentioning. I was in Tatooine(1) last night with fewer than 50 players and there was a second Tatooine shard running.

 

Don't forget that Tatooine is a planet for both factions. There was fewer than 50 people OF YOUR FACTION there, but not in total.

Edited January 7, 2012 by princey

[Noth]

I haven't experienced this phase out that you keep mentioning. I was in Tatooine(1) last night with fewer than 50 players and there was a second Tatooine shard running.

 

1. If you want to talk about technical starting areas, WoW has more than four. I was making the point that unlike SW:TOR, players have a choice of zones for any given character level. SW:TOR's progression is linear.

 

2. Yes, they do. I see objective respawn within seconds all the time. The only time you might have run into trouble is on launch day. We're way past that point now in SW:TOR.

 

EDIT: And come to think of it, I was playing at midnight when Cataclysm launched and I had no trouble at all in Hyjal.

 

Played Hyjal and Vashir. Hyjal was a complete and utter waste of time due to traffic. Went to Vashir hoping for something different and it was worse. Also I've seen often looted items and mobs spwn in seconds in this game at release that are now not spawning so fast as the number of people in those areas decrease.

[Oneirophrenia]

I think some people in this thread may be confused about the definition of "sharding". In MMOs terms, sharding refers to the practice of using multiple servers within one game to seperate the population in order to keep the hardware cost down. Right now most MMOs uses the "sharding" design though there has been some talk of "shardless" or "single shard" as the future of MMOs. The advantage of such a design is that since all players will be in one shard/server, it will be easier for the developers to implement a more persistent world experience where player choices can actually help dictate the future direction.

 

What the OP was talking about is actually instancing and not sharding. Instancing doesn't necessarily equate to generating a group-specific unique zone which outsiders can't access. Instancing can also mean automatically generating a new copy of an existing zone when certain preset parameters are reached, such as a population cap.

 

In TOR, planetary instancing is a moot point as far as I'm concerned because the chat channels cross all instances. Now maybe some people enjoy watching a swarm of people around them for immersion purposes but not me. I've already had my fill of spawn competitions from my EQ and FFXI days. I don't want TOR to turn into "sand people at <X,X,X> is camped!".

[LeonkRAV]

This game is an mmo. I dont how it isnt. Are you looking for a game that forces you to constantly group up? So youre running into the age old flaw of all mmos, the shortage of tanks and healers as everyone wants to do dps and no one wants the responsibility of healing or tanking.

 

My friend is a merc, and he HATES doing anything group wise b.c he feels no one wants to play their roles and heal or tank and yet he himself REFUSES to do just that. hypocrite, yes i know.

 

2ndly, every class story can be done in groups. you and your friends can group up and experiece up to 4 different stories at a time.

 

3rdly, a lfg tool is a spoiled cache. wow implemented one ONLY b/c its a long established game with literally Max lvl - current xpan levels worth of useless levels that are spread out thin and wide.

bioware implements tools to alow you to find members and group, the fleet station is a social hub. Just b.c you and other players refuse to work and would rather a tool to cut the SOCIAL aspect of group together away doesnt make it not an mmo.

 

and since when does SEEING a person needs to be a basis of grouping together?

 

All quest, story zones, flashpoints operations and heroics can be done in groups.

there is a LFG tool. If people so choose to not use it, thats player choice and not the games fault. and with time people will grow out of their spoiled needs to start to use it.

and swtor isnt the first game to utilize phasing to seperate huge numbers of players in one zone.

wow is no different, when people quest level alts, they dont group up, they dont socialize with the people in the zone positively and you sure as heck dont see many people.

[SoonerJBD]

I don't understand why people complain about what this game isn't rather than enjoying what it is. Is it exactly like WoW or any other MMO you've played? No. If you want that, just wait for the next expansion of WoW.

 

This game promised a better solo experience, and it is delivering one. If you want to group for flashpoints or heroics, you can do that too. The endgame raiding will pick up after the game has been out a couple months and more casual players reach lvl 50. Honestly, I'm averaging four hours plus a day since getting early game access four or five days prior to release, and I am at lvl 41. People who have been at lvl 50 for a week or more astound me. Get a job. Re-roll an alt and check out a different story. Or go back and play WoW and stop clogging up the forums complaining that every part of this game is not exactly as you would have designed it.