For those who don't care for the story aspect.....what else did you expect?

[Slightlycampana]

See and there is nothing wrong with that! You might not like the model that SWTOR presents, but at least you were aware of it and did not act "cheated" when you found out otherwise.

 

Question is, how come there aren't more people like yourself?

 

Aww, I feel special now.

 

One of the things I disagree with is that all the MMO systems in SWTOR are based on the same pattern as WoW's. A lot of feedback on the forums is that the implementation of these MMO features is inferior to those of WoW.

 

And yet Bioware's stated ambition is to compete with WoW.

 

Regardless of what people expect out of the game, this doesn't seem a very good business model. You don't compete with the current industry standard unless you have a vastly better product.

 

People who like SWTOR will say yes, BW have achieved this. People who are disappointed in SWTOR will say no, they haven't.

 

So what this means is that SWTOR is better in some ways and inferior in others, and thus I think BW do not have a product that can compete to become the new industry standard.

 

I still hope it succeeds, though.

[Rhinoplat]

EvE online.

 

 

End of your discussion.

 

(Yes you start at point A... but there is no point B but the day you decide to delete your account)

 

The other thing to note about his quote is that I'm fine with linear progression during leveling. It should be a short progression. Then after max level is achieved that's where your non-linear game play comes in; that is end game. End game content is content that is left up to the players. The devs give us great tools to use, but it's the players that non-linearly decide the story.

 

EvE is a great example of this, and Shadowbane was another. Things are/were ever changing in those games because of the players/guilds/alliances.

[Dechomai]

Problem with your arguement:

 

Fanbois will sub no matter what. So why should BW give a crap what they say?

 

 

LOL...I haven't had TIME enough to become a fanboy. I just find it amazing that most of these complainers appear to have played the game extensively and then come back with the "I hate this", "the story sux" , "this isn't a true MMO", etc. What? You're JUST figuring it out you don't like it?? You haven't left yet??

 

And if they don't care for the game, why the "concern" about its welfare? I find it interesting that over at the WoW forums, I hear the same exact complaints about a game that's been around for 7-odd years....yet these people stick around, play the game and all the while continue to populate the forums with their complaints about how this sux and that sux. Amazing.

[Majestic_Jazz]

And to all those who obviously do not like the game or disatisfied by the story. Then why do you continue to visit this game's forums?

 

I do not like the arcade "lone wolf" style of Call of Duty, I am a Battlefield 3 guy. What sense would it be for me to spend my time on the COD forums? Why not just play BF3 or goto the BF3 forums? What could I possibly look to accomplish/experience by visiting the CoD forums?

 

This is the logic I do not get. Someone please explain this to me.....

 

For emphasis

 

Nobody seems to want to tackle this.....

[Nellise]

There are **** loads of quest in SWTOR with choices... heck with my Sentinel I couldnt count them all there is too many of those... Get real your argument fell in weight right when you said that.

 

Dialog choices or choices on how you do something? All those "kill him/let him go" choices don't actually matter much other than whether you get light or dark side points. I'm not actually given different options on how to complete a mission while I'm playing.

 

And to all those who obviously do not like the game or disatisfied by the story. Then why do you continue to visit this game's forums?

 

I like this style of game and have been playing with some fun people that will keep me here for a month or two, but that doesn't make me blind to the major flaws I think the game has.

Edited January 11, 2012 by Nellise

[Galbatorrix]

well I like the story but something I'm missing is a living universe.

 

Most of the time I'm alone or with just a couple of ppl around. For example this afternoon Main Fleet had around 7 ppl (myself included), I met only 1 other guy when I wandered through the markets, similar numbers on planets too.

 

Late night gets even worse, yesterday we were 2!!!! ppl on Nar Shadaa.

 

 

I play Republic and Sith on two different servers, neither of which are ever "heavy" or "full" and I've never seen less than 40 players in fleet. Also, while questing, I'm constantly seeing people out and about.

Edited January 11, 2012 by Galbatorrix

[Elkard]

It isn't single player unless you want to do your story solo. There is a box to "allow" others into your story. You group and earn them social points. There is nothing keeping people from grouping up. So you play alone, oh well, your choice. Hmm, more choices. This game is what I expected. And the references and elements from the KOTOR games makes it even better. [some people just have an urge to complain]

[Eldyraen]

There are times when you can skip steps or add more depending on dialogue option as well so the "makes no difference" defense fails every time. Try leveling up more than one character, change sex/class/alignment and see if I'm lying. Most of them stay more or less the same but some of the exceptions really do make it feel fresh.

 

Have a male and female smuggler with different AC and even something as simple as sex can change a few things up--flirting is quite entertaing in its own right and can make you crack a smile or laugh out right when it surprises you second time through. If you skip things to never know what you end up missing.

Edited January 11, 2012 by Eldyraen

[RichLather]

-Its ok to use "story" as the selling point if the gameplay is smooth and bug free.

-Its ok to use "story" as the selling point if the raid content isnt riddled with gamebreaking bugs.

-Its ok to use "story" as the selling point if there are no memory leaks that destroy peoples gameplay experience.

-Its ok to use "story" as the selling point if quests dont get stuck on pending for people upon release and they have to wait for up to 5 days to play again.

-Its ok to use "story" as the selling point if the developers are not lazy and make sure the industry standard features like a combat log and a very basic LFG system are in the game and working properly.

-Its ok to use "story" as the selling point if the abilities in the game do not missfire, as in the global CD happens but the ability never actually happens.

This could go on forever, but the fact and the point is that this is a video game, not a movie. Sell the game on whatever idea you want, but ONLY AFTER the actual video game is up to par with its peers in the industry in terms of gameplay. Having a story is no excuse for the amount of bugs this game is riddled with.

[CogitoErgo]

I gave the story a shot. It is as bad as the story in most any other MMO. It's completely irrelevant to the gameplay and uninteresting a vast majority of the time. I did get a little joy in finishing up Act 1 and winning the Great Hunt only cause I knew I was that much closer to level 50.

 

I think my spacebar is broken now though.

[Seattlite]

What was I expecting?

 

At the same time, we will still deliver all the fun features and activities that fans have come to expect in a AAA massively multiplayer online game.

 

^This.

[Florial]

I think that if one played Mass Effect, Dragon Age or KOTOR, they would have a very good glimpse of what SWTOR would deliever. If one hadn't played those games and perhaps didn't follow this game development, I could see how people could be a little shocked. Or perhaps someone looking for WoW 2.0 or SWG 2.0 and not really reading enough about the game beforehand would be disappointed.

 

Before the game officially launched, I got a kick out of folks on the other gaming boards bashing this game. They hated the voice overs, they hated the lore and weren't really interseted in the story. I just hope that they didn't purchase the game and stuck to whatever they were playing before.

[Jswizzle]

LOL...I haven't had TIME enough to become a fanboy. I just find it amazing that most of these complainers appear to have played the game extensively and then come back with the "I hate this", "the story sux" , "this isn't a true MMO", etc. What? You're JUST figuring it out you don't like it?? You haven't left yet??

 

And if they don't care for the game, why the "concern" about its welfare? I find it interesting that over at the WoW forums, I hear the same exact complaints about a game that's been around for 7-odd years....yet these people stick around, play the game and all the while continue to populate the forums with their complaints about how this sux and that sux. Amazing.

 

Agree, for WOW being so perfect the boards over there are exactly the same as here. Oh the irony

[spinedoc]

I expected them to break the run across the entire zone, kill 10 rats, run back across the zone again quests which are what makes MMO's incredibly boring at times. I think bioware did an awesome job with the storytelling, but at the end of the day the vast majority of quests are still kill 10 rats, nothing more. This is why I think the terms thrown around like "revolutionary" are just hype. Not to take anything away from bioware, but they have already done this in KOTOR and Mass Effect and other games.

 

When you are just tooling around on a planet doing the storyline there is VERY little to give you an indication this is a MMO, the instances are so small that you never see anyone talking in general chat, few people band up to do the heroic quests and when they do they rush thru them often without a single word to the group, and there is still that sinking annoying feeling you get after going thru an incredible cutscene to realize you are yet again being told to run across the zone and kill 10 rats.

 

I guess this is what I was expecting bioware to "revolutionize" when they talked about their story driven MMO. It's really a rat driven MMO, 10 rats to be specific.

[Deyjarl]

I expected a good MMO. I got a bad single player game that costs $15 a month.

 

It's a problem you are creating, not the game.

 

You can group up for tons of things, and I have never had a problem finding groups.

[Seattlite]

and there is still that sinking annoying feeling you get after going thru an incredible cutscene to realize you are yet again being told to run across the zone and kill 10 rats.

 

Epic cutscenes telling you to kill x NPCs in the next hallway behind a phase door. The absolute linearity of the environments might be forgivable if Tatooine, Balmorra, and Alderaan weren't just as linear and claustrophobic as the 1-18 zones. The first places I actually WANTED to go in the game, I was met by zone exhaustion. On Balmorra it's especially bad, as the zone actually looks like it expands into beautiful terrain, but upon crossing halfway thru an ankle-high stream, you get fatigue damage and realize it's just wallpaper.

 

So, yeah, I guess I was expecting content to go along with my voice acting.

Edited January 11, 2012 by Seattlite

[Kyriosgundam]

This. At worse i expected WoW with voiced dialogue and story.

 

I didn't expect an ultra linear single player game experience.

 

If your thinking this then you dont know games as well as you think you do. Also I agree with what the author of this thread said if you didnt want or like the story aspect of SWTOR then you shouldnt be playing it I like the fact that its story driven and you can play the whole game solo instead of having to get into parties just to lvl up after you reach a certain lvl. Dont get me wrong if someone invites me to join a party with them I will gladly do so however there are times when you just want to enjoy the Story aspect of TOR and be able to choose the choices you would chose instead of being stuck with the choices made by the person with the highest social rating. Besides I intend to play through all the classes as both genders and as every advanced class.

[al_giordino]

STORY does not equal LINEARITY.

 

The problem isn't the story - it's the linearity of the story.

 

Your choices should have some meaningful impact that allow you to roleplay a unique character.

 

SORRY but your character at 50 has:

 

The same background/backstory as EVERY other person of your class

The exact same ship

The exact same companions

The exact same speeder speed

 

At least in other MMOs you could level the way you choose so that by the time you get to 50, you've had a somewhat unique experience and created a mental investment in your character that's of your own design and preference.

[KerythFOS]

I love it when people like you say this stuff because guess what? People are leaving SWTOR in droves after one month of release. Guess what that means for people like you that blindly defend this poor excuse of an MMO to the death? Not good.

 

 

Really? All I hear is a few people on this forum who have nothing better to do than bash it doing so. I've yet to see anything concrete regarding these 'droves' of people leaving after one month. I HAVE seen concrete proof of this game growing though.

[KerythFOS]

STORY does not equal LINEARITY.

 

The problem isn't the story - it's the linearity of the story.

 

Your choices should have some meaningful impact that allow you to roleplay a unique character.

 

SORRY but your character at 50 has:

 

The same background/backstory as EVERY other person of your class

The exact same ship

The exact same companions

The exact same speeder speed

 

At least in other MMOs you could level the way you choose so that by the time you get to 50, you've had a somewhat unique experience and created a mental investment in your character that's of your own design and preference.

 

Really? How so? In WoW, My Shaman was no different form any other. I levelled her in the samll draenei lands and then Night Elf. I could have gone to the human or dwarf/gnome zone, if I wanted to, yes, but it wouldn;t have made any differemce.

 

In CO, I go from the same zone to the same zone as everyone else

 

In AOC I got bored in the city, so, can;t comment

 

In DDO was doing the same quests as everyone else

 

The list goes on

 

And at high level (in WoW for example)

I had NO STORY, background or otherwise ebyone very basic. Like every other draenei I survived the crash. Don;t get me started on Worgen, Night Elf, or Goblin.

Same mount speed as everyone else unless I was too cheap on an alt

After raiding looked like every other shaman on my server

 

 

So, where is the difference?

[Balthrax]

Elder Scroll and other sandbox types games are pretty non-linear.

 

P.S.: I have no issue with the linear nature of this game. Just replying to the question posed.

 

Actually... In a way all games are linear. You start at point "A" (For TES its usually you being in a prison, for other games, its the spawn.) TES games end with you becoming the champion, or whatever. Minecraft is a sandbox. It spawns you at a point. And eventually you can actually finish the game by killing the Ender Dragon.

 

For other sandboxes, it just depends on where you think "The end" is, and boom. Point "B".

[Deyjarl]

 

The same background/backstory as EVERY other person of your class

 

Possible they could have done differently, but really complicated I suspect. And no different than any other MMO.

 

 

The exact same ship

 

How many ship skins do you want? That is effectively all they are skins. And there is customization coming, they've said they will be working on adding uniqueness to the ships, but it wasn't a priority for release which is understandable, and on par with most games out there also and their housing. Heck WoW still doesn't have housing and does well, so you can't really say that it had to be a priority for them.

 

 

The exact same companions

 

Unless you just want them to look different, which is already in game with the looks you can buy (I think 6 looks per character so far), I doubt this will change just because of balance issues because of how essential they are in game play.

 

If you are expecting unique characters and skills, you are asking way to much.

 

The exact same speeder speed

 

Are seriously nit picking this? Really?

[krookie]

Actually... In a way all games are linear. You start at point "A" (For TES its usually you being in a prison, for other games, its the spawn.) TES games end with you becoming the champion, or whatever. Minecraft is a sandbox. It spawns you at a point. And eventually you can actually finish the game by killing the Ender Dragon.

 

For other sandboxes, it just depends on where you think "The end" is, and boom. Point "B".

 

By that logic, life is linear too. You start and point A and end at point B. It's the journey to point B that matters though. Non-linearity in games means that you have alternate paths to take to reach point B. TES games are nonlinear because whereas the main story is probably linear, there are tons of other content you can do besides the main story. You can even completely ignore the main story and do your own thing. Even after the main story you can continue exploring the game and experience other content.

 

TOR on the other hand is completely linear because everyone in your faction will quest on the same planets following the same order. With the exception of starting planets, of course.

Edited January 11, 2012 by krookie

[rzrknight]

I like the main story , at least the sith inquisitor one , but i find most side quests boring , and they dont have to be , from time to time they add a great side quests that makes you do the same things the others do but are funny and interesting to play , but mostly are boring i just skip.

[Deyjarl]

, from time to time they add a great side quests that makes you do the same things the others

 

Yes because making content like that for every single quest is just that easy.