Game Suggestions - 34 Areas for Improvement (A Summary After 100 Hours Played))

[AmirFett]

Dear Game Designers and Community,

 

I appreciate all the effort that so many people have taken to take about game issues and the things that can be done to make SWTOR even better and long-surviving. I was especially impressed with Xcore's post on ability delays, and all the people who helped him.

 

I know I'm a bit too type A, but in a perhaps over-documented fashion, I made a list of areas of improvement or outright fixes that I have still noticed in the game after my first 100 hours of gameplay. I have played literally 20 different MMORPGs and have beta-tested stuff for almost 20 years, so I write it, I hope, with some practice and perspective. Here goes:

 

1) Ability delays

I will not say more about this other than to say Xcore has beaten it to death. This is the biggest issue and I only wonder if a fix is even possible or if the game engine is too solidified

 

2) Tooltips and better information for players

I was fine figuring out what to do but I think the in-game help situation is very weak. There were too many instances where I didn't understand a game dynamic or didn't have enough tooltips on abilities to know what interactions existed or what I should do. Here are two of my favorite examples:

 

a) If you are a Jedi Templar, there are talent tree points that boost burn abilities, but there are some burn abilities that do not actually say they cause burn damage in the tooltip

b) It is not clear when a companion has a specialization boost for a profession, or a chance to crit, how much that ability magnifies your opportunity. For example, the Sith Inquisitor's first companion has +15 to a crafting ability. Does this mean 15% faster? who knows?

 

The tooltips need to be rethought from a perspective of knowing all stats and their impacts in a clear and manageable fashion

 

3) Abilities do not all show up on toolbars

Sometimes abilities do not automatically start or pop unto your bar. Examples:

 

a) My sith inquisitor pet taunt was not on the bar

b) My sith inquisitor pet stances were not on his bar

c) My warp button to go back to the ship (emergency ship transport in six seconds) was not on the bar - this is a really big one that helps with going back to train

 

4) While I do not value achievements as much as other players, having more robust codex entries for feats in PvP and PvE would make many players happy and not take that much time to document

 

5) Walking speeds should be a bit faster, or the buff for faster walking should come a bit earlier in the game.

The early zone walks can be agonizingly long

 

6) The BGs are too "obstacle heavy".

If you want to keep the current ones, that is fine, but there are too many fires, blocks and holes that obstruct people from "just fighting" when they want to

 

7) You are missing a LFG tool for PvP and PvE

 

8) The companions can often disappear without any clear reason and without the summon companion button coming up in the lower-left hand corner of the screen

 

9) PvP zones stick everybody together in one area.

You should bind them by increments of 10 levels for zoning

 

10) Raid content is too limited and easy

 

11) AI is weak, especially in instanced zones.

Strafing, killing and CCing is way too easy

 

12) Background distortion in the animations are rampant

Especially in scenes with trees or bushes, they seem to be shaking in the background there can often be a color smear all across the screen

 

13) Conversation animations are not fluid

Scenes often stall or progress with a hiccup from one scene of a conversation to another

 

14) Endgame awards are reached too easily and with too little time

I have seen a range of grindy to non-grindy games and it is simply too easy to get full-gearing. I know the point of SWTOR is to experience different classes, and that is fun, but I think you are too far on one end of the spectrum. I can only emphasize again that having more title-oriented rewards or things like that, especially in PvP, would help with this problem

 

15) The choice of character types in the create a character screen are shockingly limited.

I get 25 choices for what color my character's eyes will be, but only five basic species? And only four body types? Come on Bioware. I actually like that you make the class bonuses relatively insignificant, but this is Star Wars. The bar has been set higher by recent MMORPGs and there should be many more options on the race front, or at least sub-race character design to start. If you want a good example, check out City of Heroes. You can customize everything down to the character's butt size and color.

 

16a. Rewards for social points, companion points and PvP reputation max out way too low and have *yawn* outcomes.

Ooh - I get a lame badge for social points? My companion gives me a few quests and tells me a story if I max out TEN THOUSAND points of loyalty with him? I can max out PvP reputation in a month? These basic systems are good, but what they yield when you work on them is too little, too fast.

16b. Gear maxing happens too fast

Think about *gasp* Warcraft and how there is arena or rated BGs and people can work on ratings or rankings for months. Think about raiding and how maxing out all bosses and gear can take months. There needs to be more to keep people coming back.

 

17. If you are going to have so many world quests that need a group, you need area LFG or auto-queuing beyond chatting it up

 

18. Gear differentiation is limited and graphics are often dull and suffer from sameness

Too many pieces of gear for too many toons have too limited ranges of illustration. It is like the Burning Crusade expansion of Warcraft after their initial graphic greatness in Vanilla

 

19. There is not an armory equivalent system, built up, where one can look at other people's toons, specs and performance in-game

 

20. Guild rewards, incentives and a "purpose for being" are not epic enough

 

21. Illum does not function as intended and there are too many economic distortions

 

22. There are not really world events or significant calendar-based events that shake-up what happens

 

23. Space combat is dull and repetitive and should be eliminated.

It is a good effort but nobody finds it redeeming and you should contemplate eliminating it entirely and focusing your effort on the rest of the game as there is much to do

 

24. The commendations systems, except PvP and end-game raiding, should either be revamped or eliminated

There are not nearly enough rewards from vendors. People in other MMORPGs love getting many vanity things, on top of tangible rewards, for their gametime.

 

25. SWTOR feels very reward-heavy on gear and story and way too reward-light on other fun things like world exploration and cosmetic bonuses

Sure, there are holocrons and other things, but where is the fun list of things to do outside besides instanced fights and quests? Not enough to do.

 

26. There needs to be a better toggle in-game for mouse sensitivity

 

27. The camera adjustments and widescreen positioning can sometimes operate awkwardly

In group fights it can often be harder than one might think to get a group vantage or everything that is happening without significant manipulation.

 

28. World latency can be too high and animations can be jerky sometimes

I am running on a brand new top-of-the-line Alienware desktop, with a 100mbps cable modem connection and I still get high latency in some zones with high population, as well as this sometimes happening in PvP. I remember reading about WoW having these problems in places like Wintergrasp, but supposedly with better programming this was supposed to be something fixable.

 

29. The number of bar slots and buttons are too rigid and should have a customizable interface like the bartender addon in Warcraft

You should be able to build this stuff in easily

 

30. You should have counters for cooldowns on abilities like the cooldown count addon in Warcraft

 

31. The auction interface can be improved significantly for listing efficiency and ease

 

32. There should be city guards who can flag the location of a vendor or trainer for you on the map if you are lost

This will really help novice players, but I'm sure anybody who occasionally gets lost

 

33. The normalization mechanic in BGs is a bad idea and leads to a sense of pointlessness in grinding gear

Grouping people by levels is a better idea and more reasonable

 

34. While I get the point of being clever, the vagueness of getting or losing points with your companion can be more confusing than it is worth

There should just be a highlighter on conversation choices that tells you the potential plus or minus to points with your companion, like there is with the light or dark side

 

I appreciate everybody's attention and reading. I do not come from a hostile position. I love this game and want to help make it better so it will last a long time. I want to make it expressly clear that despite these comments, I LOVE the game and appreciate the effort Bioware put into making it. Additionally, I know working out kinks can take a long time. However, I wanted to do my part to help improve the game.

 

You invited me for beta testing and consider this my slightly delayed beta test because I was away from vacation and could not submit my comments or play then. Again, this is based on 100 hours of gameplay starting 7 days ago.

 

Thanks so much!

[Walfredo]

Dear Game Designers and Community,

 

I appreciate all the effort that so many people have taken to take about game issues and the things that can be done to make SWTOR even better and long-surviving. I was especially impressed with Xcore's post on ability delays, and all the people who helped him.

 

I know I'm a bit too type A, but in a perhaps over-documented fashion, I made a list of areas of improvement or outright fixes that I have still noticed in the game after my first 100 hours of gameplay. I have played literally 20 different MMORPGs and have beta-tested stuff for almost 20 years, so I write it, I hope, with some practice and perspective. Here goes:

 

1) Ability delays

I will not say more about this other than to say Xcore has beaten it to death. This is the biggest issue and I only wonder if a fix is even possible or if the game engine is too solidified

 

They're working on it, or else this game stands no chance

 

2) Tooltips and better information for players

I was fine figuring out what to do but I think the in-game help situation is very weak. There were too many instances where I didn't understand a game dynamic or didn't have enough tooltips on abilities to know what interactions existed or what I should do. Here are two of my favorite examples:

 

a) If you are a Jedi Templar, there are talent tree points that boost burn abilities, but there are some burn abilities that do not actually say they cause burn damage in the tooltip

So what you're saying is, you need to be spoon-fed that HEY HEY THIS SPELL IS A DAMAGE OVER TIME SPELL!!!!

b) It is not clear when a companion has a specialization boost for a profession, or a chance to crit, how much that ability magnifies your opportunity. For example, the Sith Inquisitor's first companion has +15 to a crafting ability. Does this mean 15% faster? who knows?

You mean how the companion window shows they're efficiencies and bonuses in that bright yellow text at the bottom of the companion window? Why would you not assume that +15 Artificing means that if your skill is 400, while crafting with that companion you're actually crafting at a 415 rating, meaning increased chances for better quality results. Gee that was REALLY hard to figure out and explain in less than 30 seconds.

 

The tooltips need to be rethought from a perspective of knowing all stats and their impacts in a clear and manageable fashion

 

3) Abilities do not all show up on toolbars

Sometimes abilities do not automatically start or pop unto your bar. Examples:

 

a) My sith inquisitor pet taunt was not on the bar

Why are you using your pet bar

b) My sith inquisitor pet stances were not on his bar

You were misreading or you didn't expand the bar, never happened to me across six characters including TWO Inquisitors, a single time.

c) My warp button to go back to the ship (emergency ship transport in six seconds) was not on the bar - this is a really big one that helps with going back to train

How about you open the *********** P window and add it to your bar?

 

4) While I do not value achievements as much as other players, having more robust codex entries for feats in PvP and PvE would make many players happy and not take that much time to document

 

Go play a game that rewards players for time sinks for some bit of text saying you achieved something. Know what real achievements are? The ones that other players respect, not what some game tells you you did.

 

5) Walking speeds should be a bit faster, or the buff for faster walking should come a bit earlier in the game.

The early zone walks can be agonizingly long

 

OH MY GOD GUYS IT TAKES ME A WHOLE FIVE HOURS OF GAMEPLAY BEFORE I GET SPRINT, FIXPLS. Cry more.

 

6) The BGs are too "obstacle heavy".

If you want to keep the current ones, that is fine, but there are too many fires, blocks and holes that obstruct people from "just fighting" when they want to

 

Yes because it'd be so much better if they were just flat pits with nothing of interest or a Z axis at all right? Sounds like this game is too hard for you.

 

7) You are missing a LFG tool for PvP and PvE

 

You're misunderstanding how LFG works. Set your *********** comment for PVP action and tell groups doing PvE that can't read your comment that you're looking to PVP. Or get a guild and make some friends FFS.

 

8) The companions can often disappear without any clear reason and without the summon companion button coming up in the lower-left hand corner of the screen

 

Okay, we've finally made it to an actual bug that will obviously be addressed.

 

9) PvP zones stick everybody together in one area.

You should bind them by increments of 10 levels for zoning

 

PvP zones stick everyone together in one area. You mean, to encourage PvP in the ABSOLUTELY LIMITED areas of open-world pvp that currently exist? Roll a god damn PvE server please.

 

10) Raid content is too limited and easy

 

Then they need to release harder encounters and leave the current ones as entry ones. Have you ever played an MMO before? You don't exactly have to start off with nearly impossible raid content. That leaves no room for progression.

 

11) AI is weak, especially in instanced zones.

Strafing, killing and CCing is way too easy

 

We're Jedi, Sith, and expert blaster wielders. Are you expecting PvE trash to really be that challenging? The bosses are interesting and sometimes tough, but not as often as they should be.

 

12) Background distortion in the animations are rampant

Especially in scenes with trees or bushes, they seem to be shaking in the background there can often be a color smear all across the screen

 

That's probably a graphic issue on your end, never had this happen.

 

13) Conversation animations are not fluid

Scenes often stall or progress with a hiccup from one scene of a conversation to another

 

Yeah well, nothing is perfect is it? Get over it and enjoy the fact that there's even voice overs and animations rather than a wall of text and handing an item to receive an item, rinse repeat. God damn jaded MMO players today.

 

14) Endgame awards are reached too easily and with too little time

I have seen a range of grindy to non-grindy games and it is simply too easy to get full-gearing. I know the point of SWTOR is to experience different classes, and that is fun, but I think you are too far on one end of the spectrum. I can only emphasize again that having more title-oriented rewards or things like that, especially in PvP, would help with this problem

 

Okay so what you're suggesting is we take a more Everquest One approach right? Have people farm out single pieces of loot for weeks on end because it takes hundreds of kills on the same mob to obtain that one piece of loot? Go play asian MMOs, you'll love the "challenge".

 

15) The choice of character types in the create a character screen are shockingly limited.

I get 25 choices for what color my character's eyes will be, but only five basic species? And only four body types? Come on Bioware. I actually like that you make the class bonuses relatively insignificant, but this is Star Wars. The bar has been set higher by recent MMORPGs and there should be many more options on the race front, or at least sub-race character design to start. If you want a good example, check out City of Heroes. You can customize everything down to the character's butt size and color.

 

I'll agree with you here, I was expecting Vanguard: Saga of Heroes level of character customization, not copy and paste with a few faces and heads.

 

16a. Rewards for social points, companion points and PvP reputation max out way too low and have *yawn* outcomes.

Ooh - I get a lame badge for social points? My companion gives me a few quests and tells me a story if I max out TEN THOUSAND points of loyalty with him? I can max out PvP reputation in a month? These basic systems are good, but what they yield when you work on them is too little, too fast.

 

They're for vanity gear bro.. Among other vanity items... Keyword: Vanity.

 

16b. Gear maxing happens too fast

Think about *gasp* Warcraft and how there is arena or rated BGs and people can work on ratings or rankings for months. Think about raiding and how maxing out all bosses and gear can take months. There needs to be more to keep people coming back.

 

Oh my god, people who put hours into work and got tons of Mercenary commendations and bought all their champion bags have gear? Nowai. Why should defeating all the bosses take months? Who made you the authority on that? Do you understand the era of MMO gaming we live in now? People figure **** out just as fast as the writers can code the newest script. Get over the fact that some people are smarter and faster than others.

 

17. If you are going to have so many world quests that need a group, you need area LFG or auto-queuing beyond chatting it up

 

No, no, and no. Learn to be social. Make friends.

 

18. Gear differentiation is limited and graphics are often dull and suffer from sameness

Too many pieces of gear for too many toons have too limited ranges of illustration. It is like the Burning Crusade expansion of Warcraft after their initial graphic greatness in Vanilla

 

Get orange gear you like the looks of, keep it upgraded with mods. Yes there are limited options for gear, but not as little as some people may think. What would you rather have? Tons of fashion options, or quality gameplay? I think there's a Top Model MMO somewhere for you that chose the former.

 

19. There is not an armory equivalent system, built up, where one can look at other people's toons, specs and performance in-game

 

You mean how you can right click and inspect someone and see their gear, the stats on their gear, their total stats, and just about everything about them? You're losing me here, I had a slight bit of confidence building in you.

 

20. Guild rewards, incentives and a "purpose for being" are not epic enough

 

It's a *********** guild guys. Don't expect to be handed a bunch of **** just because you're able to keep people in it. No one deserves a reward for keeping a guild around handed to them by BioWare. The reward is having a guild still going strong. That's your incentive

 

21. Illum does not function as intended and there are too many economic distortions

 

Quests or objectives that require the opposite side to accomplish something are ***-backwards yes. There should be strictly offensive objectives unless they want to implement some sort of reward system for successfully defending said offensive objective from the opposite faction.

 

22. There are not really world events or significant calendar-based events that shake-up what happens

 

Dude.. It's like week three. Come on. No server has server specific GMs yet as far as I know.

 

23. Space combat is dull and repetitive and should be eliminated.

It is a good effort but nobody finds it redeeming and you should contemplate eliminating it entirely and focusing your effort on the rest of the game as there is much to do

 

If you don't want to *********** do it then don't. Why should everyone else not be allowed to enjoy it, just because YOU don't? Selfish *****.

 

24. The commendations systems, except PvP and end-game raiding, should either be revamped or eliminated

There are not nearly enough rewards from vendors. People in other MMORPGs love getting many vanity things, on top of tangible rewards, for their gametime.

 

Another dumb statement. Apparently all the level 50 PvP gear isn't enough of a reward for this scrub.

 

25. SWTOR feels very reward-heavy on gear and story and way too reward-light on other fun things like world exploration and cosmetic bonuses

Sure, there are holocrons and other things, but where is the fun list of things to do outside besides instanced fights and quests? Not enough to do.

 

Cosmetic bonuses? Are you *********** serious? You mean how you complained about vanity gear isn't functional? When it's VANITY gear? World exploration bonuses? Oh you mean the datacrons taht give permanent stat increases.

 

26. There needs to be a better toggle in-game for mouse sensitivity

 

Set it and get it right, stop complaining about your short-comings.

 

27. The camera adjustments and widescreen positioning can sometimes operate awkwardly

In group fights it can often be harder than one might think to get a group vantage or everything that is happening without significant manipulation.

 

Get a better mouse

 

28. World latency can be too high and animations can be jerky sometimes

I am running on a brand new top-of-the-line Alienware desktop, with a 100mbps cable modem connection and I still get high latency in some zones with high population, as well as this sometimes happening in PvP. I remember reading about WoW having these problems in places like Wintergrasp, but supposedly with better programming this was supposed to be something fixable.

 

There's your first mistake you own an Alienware desktop. None of those are top-of-the-line. Quite the opposite. Get a better system then talk to us about latency and performance issues. Also, lawl Alienware.

 

29. The number of bar slots and buttons are too rigid and should have a customizable interface like the bartender addon in Warcraft

You should be able to build this stuff in easily

 

UI customization is coming soon

 

30. You should have counters for cooldowns on abilities like the cooldown count addon in Warcraft

 

No. Just *********** no.

 

31. The auction interface can be improved significantly for listing efficiency and ease

 

You could have elaborated so much more on this yet you chose to bleed all over such pointless things earlier.

 

32. There should be city guards who can flag the location of a vendor or trainer for you on the map if you are lost

This will really help novice players, but I'm sure anybody who occasionally gets lost

 

How about you open your *********** map, check the circle of the type of NPC you're looking for and... GASP, Wala!!! The map shows you where they are!!!!

 

33. The normalization mechanic in BGs is a bad idea and leads to a sense of pointlessness in grinding gear

Grouping people by levels is a better idea and more reasonable

 

You're just dumb with this statement. Seriously just dumb. The normalization is the ONLY reason that the current BG system has survived as long as it has.

 

34. While I get the point of being clever, the vagueness of getting or losing points with your companion can be more confusing than it is worth

There should just be a highlighter on conversation choices that tells you the potential plus or minus to points with your companion, like there is with the light or dark side

 

Or you could just pay attention to how your companions like you to respond, what they like and don't like. You could really learn how to play the game, instead of asking them to dumb it down because you're simply to lazy to learn how to play even half-assed efficiently.

 

I appreciate everybody's attention and reading. I do not come from a hostile position. I love this game and want to help make it better so it will last a long time. I want to make it expressly clear that despite these comments, I LOVE the game and appreciate the effort Bioware put into making it. Additionally, I know working out kinks can take a long time. However, I wanted to do my part to help improve the game.

 

You invited me for beta testing and consider this my slightly delayed beta test because I was away from vacation and could not submit my comments or play then. Again, this is based on 100 hours of gameplay starting 7 days ago.

 

Thanks so much!

 

I believe I made my point.

[MBALLZ_IZHARI]

Also not suggested ban all the player base that cries about everything.

 

1. The game has been out for a little over a month and I know for a FACTUAL FACT that X player-base is stronger then Y player-base, this is based off my factual knowledge of WoW.

 

2. The game has been out for a little over a month why isn't this another WoW clone? I want my real ID, guild benefits, flying mount at level 1 .... this **** could go on forever.

 

3. The game has been out for a little over a month why aren't all the bugs fixed yet I'm going to go Que for a war zone even though I know your having difficulties then cry in the forums, in general, on twitter wherever someone will listen.

 

4. Random QQ about OP classes again.

 

5. Intentionally left blank for new fail thread/reply.

[Walfredo]

Also not suggested ban all the player base that cries about everything.

 

1. The game has been out for a little over a month and I know for a FACTUAL FACT that X player-base is stronger then Y player-base, this is based off my factual knowledge of WoW.

 

2. The game has been out for a little over a month why isn't this another WoW clone? I want my real ID, guild benefits, flying mount at level 1 .... this **** could go on forever.

 

3. The game has been out for a little over a month why aren't all the bugs fixed yet I'm going to go Que for a war zone even though I know your having difficulties then cry in the forums, in general, on twitter wherever someone will listen.

 

4. Random QQ about OP classes again.

 

5. Intentionally left blank for new fail thread/reply.

 

Hey now, I made a god damn good reply! You could've at least gone to 10

[Drengir]

Funy how there always seem to be plenty of spoiled brats out there wanting it all easy and fixed from start-ish They would not have survived the initial week of WoW (or any other MMO for that part).

 

Cheers for making a very long list that I couldn't bother reading if so my life depended on it!

[Jay_Stocker]

I believe I made my point.

 

You Sir, just owned the thread maker, and i very much thank you for it.

 

I want to buy you a drink in a cantina sometime.

[Drengir]

What the frakk?! AmirFett just went and made an identical thread as this one. I haven't bothered even checking if his input is the same or not, but what is he up to? Think they will give him more attention if he creates more threads? O.o

[ielaz]

I believe I made my point.

 

+1

 

5chars

[Esher]

I believe I made my point.

 

+1 from me too

[The_Eyesight]

I believe I made my point.

Dude, your a boss.

[dakalro]

Disregarding all the trolls, yeah, some very good points. Some of them.

 

Walsmth, awesome post also, I enjoyed how you blatantly chose to misunderstand most of his concerns, your post was informative and utterly useless.

[lordCriper]

Disregarding all the trolls, yeah, some very good points. Some of them.

 

Walsmth, awesome post also, I enjoyed how you blatantly chose to misunderstand most of his concerns, your post was informative and utterly useless.

 

^^ How dare one have concerns about TOR, blind fanbois are on negative comments too fast to be able to maturely argue against them.

[TonyDonovan]

You Sir, just owned the thread maker, and i very much thank you for it.

 

I want to buy you a drink in a cantina sometime.

 

 

agreed this man is the best, thread creator obviously expect everything handed to him and grats on your 100 hrs you have defiantly experienced the entire game

Edited January 11, 2012 by TonyDonovan

[ivankno]

 

25. SWTOR feels very reward-heavy on gear and story and way too reward-light on other fun things like world exploration and cosmetic bonuses

Sure, there are holocrons and other things, but where is the fun list of things to do outside besides instanced fights and quests? Not enough to do.

 

 

 

my small contribution about this point (it could be done already cos im not 50lv)

 

-Very rare/legendary companion to get.

Example: Chain quest begining on flashpoint hard mode or operation.

 

-Hard items to craft.

 

-Quests begining on mob drops. (Didn´t see any up to now).

 

-Optional class task to get optional gear (if you came from WoW im thinking on warlock or paladin mounts quests)

 

Swtor's World is enought huge to implements all this things and more and they' ll keep 50lvs chars busy for a while.

[Aharx]

 

5) Walking speeds should be a bit faster, or the buff for faster walking should come a bit earlier in the game.

The early zone walks can be agonizingly long.

 

They place the speeder travel points closer together on the starter planets so that travel times were decreased until you get your Sprint ability. I do not really see the need to 'buff' the speed at which our characters walk.

 

7) You are missing a LFG tool for PvP and PvE

 

While I sort of agree that there should be some form of it for PVE, PVP already has a queue implemented. Yes, it would be nice if you could group up with your friends to enter a warzone against another specific group of players, but we will have to wait for that. I could care less either way to be honest. Any MMO that I have played I have just posted in some form of LFF/LFG chat channel.

 

9) PvP zones stick everybody together in one area.

You should bind them by increments of 10 levels for zoning

 

This is being semi-fixed with update 1.1. It still doesn't really make sense though since level 49 players will still be able to group with level 11 players... but it's a start.

 

23. Space combat is dull and repetitive and should be eliminated.

It is a good effort but nobody finds it redeeming and you should contemplate eliminating it entirely and focusing your effort on the rest of the game as there is much to do.

 

Um, I am not too certain how you attained the opinion of every player in the game but if you're going to rant or complain you should know to only speak for yourself. I have personally spoken with many players who love the space combat mini-game. And that is all it is. A mini-game. It is there if you want[/] to play it.

 

26. There needs to be a better toggle in-game for mouse sensitivity

 

Are you able to adjust the sensitivity of your mouse outside of the game and have it effect the mouse in the game? I am just curious here. The mouse sensitivity is fine with me but it would be nice for other players if they added more options.

 

30. You should have counters for cooldowns on abilities like the cooldown count addon in Warcraft

 

No. This is not Warcraft. Addons like this make gameplay way too easy. I have never played Warcraft and I never will but from what others tell me it seems that there is an addon for just about everything. DPS meters? Threat meters? Really? What happened to people playing an MMO with any sort of skill? Learn the cooldown timers for your skills and adjust your gameplay accordingly.

 

32. There should be city guards who can flag the location of a vendor or trainer for you on the map if you are lost

This will really help novice players, but I'm sure anybody who occasionally gets lost.

 

Another simple "no". There is already an option in the Map window that allows you to toggler which locations are shown on said map. The only thing you have to do at this point is determine which way is N/E/S/W.

 

34. While I get the point of being clever, the vagueness of getting or losing points with your companion can be more confusing than it is worth

There should just be a highlighter on conversation choices that tells you the potential plus or minus to points with your companion, like there is with the light or dark side

 

Again, one should learn what their companions all like/dislike and adapt. If you try something 'evil' once with a certain companion out and they hate it... then you know for future reference that they do not like that reaction. The conversation choices are already pretty much linear. Typically the top choice is usually Light, middle is neutral, and the bottom Dark. If you know that a companion likes being mean and hateful... choose all Bottom choices when you are using that companion.

[Lyynk]

1) Ability delays

I will not say more about this other than to say Xcore has beaten it to death. This is the biggest issue and I only wonder if a fix is even possible or if the game engine is too solidified

 

I agree, but they have already said they are working on this.

 

2) Tooltips and better information for players

I was fine figuring out what to do but I think the in-game help situation is very weak. There were too many instances where I didn't understand a game dynamic or didn't have enough tooltips on abilities to know what interactions existed or what I should do. Here are two of my favorite examples:

 

a) If you are a Jedi Templar, there are talent tree points that boost burn abilities, but there are some burn abilities that do not actually say they cause burn damage in the tooltip

b) It is not clear when a companion has a specialization boost for a profession, or a chance to crit, how much that ability magnifies your opportunity. For example, the Sith Inquisitor's first companion has +15 to a crafting ability. Does this mean 15% faster? who knows?

 

The tooltips need to be rethought from a perspective of knowing all stats and their impacts in a clear and manageable fashion

 

To an extent I can agree with this point in regards to knowing exactly how companion bonuses affect crafting, but other than that it's really not hard to figure this game out if you have played any other MMO before... you said you have played 20.

 

3) Abilities do not all show up on toolbars

Sometimes abilities do not automatically start or pop unto your bar. Examples:

 

a) My sith inquisitor pet taunt was not on the bar

b) My sith inquisitor pet stances were not on his bar

c) My warp button to go back to the ship (emergency ship transport in six seconds) was not on the bar - this is a really big one that helps with going back to train

 

Never had this issue once... perhaps you did not expand your companion bar. The Emergency Fleet Pass I didn't learn about till my 40s, so maybe there is some ground to stand on there.

 

4) While I do not value achievements as much as other players, having more robust codex entries for feats in PvP and PvE would make many players happy and not take that much time to document

 

Seems like the priorities and focus should be elsewhere. As it stands I think the Codex system is fine and can be entertaining to go back and try to get all the entries for the planets.

 

5) Walking speeds should be a bit faster, or the buff for faster walking should come a bit earlier in the game.

The early zone walks can be agonizingly long

 

It doesn't take long to get to 14.

 

6) The BGs are too "obstacle heavy".

If you want to keep the current ones, that is fine, but there are too many fires, blocks and holes that obstruct people from "just fighting" when they want to

 

There are some problems with Warzones, but I don't think this is one of them. Maybe more same faction warzones, or cross-server stuff?

 

7) You are missing a LFG tool for PvP and PvE

 

Cross-server stuff would be nice, but I think they said they are going for a community focus and that is why they have chosen to omit such features. Although you can set yourself LFG, no one uses this.

 

8) The companions can often disappear without any clear reason and without the summon companion button coming up in the lower-left hand corner of the screen

 

Some bugs, ctrl + u twice will fix this issue (or at least for me) so I can summon my companion.

 

9) PvP zones stick everybody together in one area.

You should bind them by increments of 10 levels for zoning

 

Do you read upcoming patch notes? They are creating a 50 bracket, which I'm sure is probably the root of your point here. I don't think splitting it every 10 levels would be a great idea unless they had cross-server stuff... queue times would be insane.

 

10) Raid content is too limited and easy

 

It's a brand new game, at least there is some raid content. Not a very valid point for a game less than a month old.

 

11) AI is weak, especially in instanced zones.

Strafing, killing and CCing is way too easy

 

I don't really have an opinion on this.

 

12) Background distortion in the animations are rampant

Especially in scenes with trees or bushes, they seem to be shaking in the background there can often be a color smear all across the screen

 

Not an issue for me.

 

13) Conversation animations are not fluid

Scenes often stall or progress with a hiccup from one scene of a conversation to another

 

Seems to happen the most in non-basic speak, which can be quite annoying sometimes.

 

14) Endgame awards are reached too easily and with too little time

I have seen a range of grindy to non-grindy games and it is simply too easy to get full-gearing. I know the point of SWTOR is to experience different classes, and that is fun, but I think you are too far on one end of the spectrum. I can only emphasize again that having more title-oriented rewards or things like that, especially in PvP, would help with this problem

 

Hrm... do you have a full set of Rakata and Battlemaster gear? I doubt it.

 

15) The choice of character types in the create a character screen are shockingly limited.

I get 25 choices for what color my character's eyes will be, but only five basic species? And only four body types? Come on Bioware. I actually like that you make the class bonuses relatively insignificant, but this is Star Wars. The bar has been set higher by recent MMORPGs and there should be many more options on the race front, or at least sub-race character design to start. If you want a good example, check out City of Heroes. You can customize everything down to the character's butt size and color.

 

I agree character customization is wayyy too limited, but the legacy system tooltip says there will be legacy character customization options, so maybe there is hope for this category.

 

16a. Rewards for social points, companion points and PvP reputation max out way too low and have *yawn* outcomes.

Ooh - I get a lame badge for social points? My companion gives me a few quests and tells me a story if I max out TEN THOUSAND points of loyalty with him? I can max out PvP reputation in a month? These basic systems are good, but what they yield when you work on them is too little, too fast.

You are max level social? Probably not... there are some pretty cool things you can get with this system, but as it stands now, it is difficult to get social points at 50 because hardmode social points don't count. It's a bug, I'm sure it will be fixed in due time.

16b. Gear maxing happens too fast

Think about *gasp* Warcraft and how there is arena or rated BGs and people can work on ratings or rankings for months. Think about raiding and how maxing out all bosses and gear can take months. There needs to be more to keep people coming back.

You already made this point.

 

17. If you are going to have so many world quests that need a group, you need area LFG or auto-queuing beyond chatting it up

Kinda relates to your LFG tool, but really, it's not that hard to get a group. And if you can't find a group, move on and try later. Or maybe join a guild or find a friend.

 

18. Gear differentiation is limited and graphics are often dull and suffer from sameness

Too many pieces of gear for too many toons have too limited ranges of illustration. It is like the Burning Crusade expansion of Warcraft after their initial graphic greatness in Vanilla

I quite enjoy the gear looks in this game, albeit the powertech pvp helmet is gastly looking... but I'm pleased overall.

 

19. There is not an armory equivalent system, built up, where one can look at other people's toons, specs and performance in-game

Maybe in the future? I dunno, no opinion on this. I don't really care if it ever happens.

 

20. Guild rewards, incentives and a "purpose for being" are not epic enough

They have spoken to this point already about future plans for guild incentives.

 

21. Illum does not function as intended and there are too many economic distortions

Fixes are coming in the 1.1 patch... Who knows if it will work, but we'll see.

 

22. There are not really world events or significant calendar-based events that shake-up what happens

No opinion.

 

23. Space combat is dull and repetitive and should be eliminated.

It is a good effort but nobody finds it redeeming and you should contemplate eliminating it entirely and focusing your effort on the rest of the game as there is much to do

I agree, but I played SWG and the space system was completely different so it's not really fair to put them in a side-by-side comparison. But ya, would be nice to see this expanded a bit.

 

24. The commendations systems, except PvP and end-game raiding, should either be revamped or eliminated

There are not nearly enough rewards from vendors. People in other MMORPGs love getting many vanity things, on top of tangible rewards, for their gametime.

I 100% disagree with this... I loved the commendation system as I was leveling. The mods are an excellent way to keep your gear up to par. I would have liked it if the trade-in system remained from beta, as I have craploads of unused comms now, but I understand why it was removed.

 

25. SWTOR feels very reward-heavy on gear and story and way too reward-light on other fun things like world exploration and cosmetic bonuses

Sure, there are holocrons and other things, but where is the fun list of things to do outside besides instanced fights and quests? Not enough to do.

No opinion, I like it.

 

26. There needs to be a better toggle in-game for mouse sensitivity

Have had no issues with this.

 

27. The camera adjustments and widescreen positioning can sometimes operate awkwardly

In group fights it can often be harder than one might think to get a group vantage or everything that is happening without significant manipulation.

No issues.

 

28. World latency can be too high and animations can be jerky sometimes

I am running on a brand new top-of-the-line Alienware desktop, with a 100mbps cable modem connection and I still get high latency in some zones with high population, as well as this sometimes happening in PvP. I remember reading about WoW having these problems in places like Wintergrasp, but supposedly with better programming this was supposed to be something fixable.

No issues.

 

29. The number of bar slots and buttons are too rigid and should have a customizable interface like the bartender addon in Warcraft

You should be able to build this stuff in easily

The UI gets a lot of criticism and rightfully so.

 

30. You should have counters for cooldowns on abilities like the cooldown count addon in Warcraft

No opinion.

 

31. The auction interface can be improved significantly for listing efficiency and ease

I like it.

 

32. There should be city guards who can flag the location of a vendor or trainer for you on the map if you are lost

This will really help novice players, but I'm sure anybody who occasionally gets lost

Use your map much? These features are built right into the map.

 

33. The normalization mechanic in BGs is a bad idea and leads to a sense of pointlessness in grinding gear

Grouping people by levels is a better idea and more reasonable

You already made this point.

 

34. While I get the point of being clever, the vagueness of getting or losing points with your companion can be more confusing than it is worth

There should just be a highlighter on conversation choices that tells you the potential plus or minus to points with your companion, like there is with the light or dark side

This is a terrible idea, maybe pay attention to your companion and it becomes pretty obvious what they like and dislike. Or yet, even easier, read the codex about them.

 

 

My conclusion: All-in-all, I think your post is terrible. You obviously did not spend much time on it as you stated points more than once and appear to have just slopped this post together with no clear editing of grammar or structure. Also, you do not seem to have much experience playing games as you stated in the introduction as this would make a lot of your points invalid. Waste of time reading this.

[Cbrinegar]

I believe I made my point.

 

Your post seriously made me laugh. Job well done!!!

[GumBoil]

Funy how there always seem to be plenty of spoiled brats out there wanting it all easy and fixed from start-ish They would not have survived the initial week of WoW (or any other MMO for that part).

 

Cheers for making a very long list that I couldn't bother reading if so my life depended on it!

 

Ahh the twitter generation, what must it be like to only be able to think in 142 character snippets. I was going to try and reply but pointless if you only have capacity for 142 characters at a time. Suffice to say it is a complete fallacy that all MMO's are this bugged at release. DAoC, LotRO and recently Rift for example, where nowhere close.

[PjPablo]

I believe I made my point.

 

This is a a great example of why this forum community is the worst I have ever seen. Congrats though. It took less than 30 days to become worse than WOW's boards. Keep bashing people's critiques. We'll see where this game is in a year. Hell, in six months.

[Thorbrand]

His point is that it is only a half a game and a very poorly made MMO. That is the truth of it. The game is very poor given how much they CLAIM to have spent in development and of course don't forget all the things they don't know how to fix.

[Alyiah]

Your suggestions are well thought out but making sweeping generalizations like "nobody likes space combat" hurt your case. I like space combat. I know others who do. I know others who don't. Opinions vary.

 

I agree that the auction interface needs work. I wish the "search" feature where you could just type in what you are looking for was available from the start, without adding the filters in prior. If I want an orange lightsaber crystal, I should just be able to type that in. The filters are nice also, but I don't see why the search feature is dependent on them.

 

I don't think the companions need it spelled out in the decisions as to what they like and don't like, but if we had more opportunities for conversation with them to determine what their general personality is, it would help. I often lose points and don't understand why.

 

Not sure about the city guards flagging locations for you, as the map has different radio buttons you can hit to pinpoint what you're looking for.

 

I am tired of the comparisons to WoW. These forums are already soaked with "this is how WoW does it" that it makes me, as a reader, skip right over your suggestions. Yes, there are many people who came from WoW and like it, but there are also many here who do not like WoW. I'd prefer issues and suggestions for this game be based on what works best for the game it is.

 

Some of the other stuff, like adding more commendation items and events, are great suggestions, but this game hasn't even been out for a month. I assume they will continue to add to the game down the line. We can't have everything at once.

Edited January 11, 2012 by Alyiah

[Iusedtoplaywow]

This is a a great example of why this forum community is the worst I have ever seen. Congrats though. It took less than 30 days to become worse than WOW's boards. Keep bashing people's critiques. We'll see where this game is in a year. Hell, in six months.

 

Nail/Head/Etc...

[Ayrsole]

I found this thread most amusing. Both the fact that people post these lists on a forum instead of sending to Bioware, and all the responses tickled me pink.

 

Hahaha@thehaters, and ROFL@thebiowareBrownNoseBrigade.

 

Thanks for the Lulz guys

Edited January 12, 2012 by Ayrsole