Bioware, you're making it more and more difficult for me to defend you

[Makade]

Ok I'll give you my thoughts on your line items as well:

 

1 - Those would be nice features, however I think people actually pay for the game, so I would put those as a lower priority than bug fixes, performance, and fixing the auction house.

2 - Debatable really, it's a quality of life issue that some argue is good and bad. Allowing full on modification of the UI can sometimes lead to designs around those mods, which sort of defeats the real intent of the content.

3 - Again, that's a longer term issue, not really a short term issue. If performance takes a hit to get graphical issues in line on the front end, I don't think it's a problem until 3 months from now.

4 - That's pretty much a raider complaint and it seems to come most often from DPS. I think the reason is that many of them enjoy seeing their own numbers and playing the blame game, which is really only the job of a leader. I am more than in favor of meters that only show up to the leader. Would that solve the issue?

5 - Totally agree, it's the biggest problem in the game right now from my POV.

6 - I think this is impossible. DAOC couldn't do it, WoW couldn't do it, and SWTOR has no chance.

 

Thank you for the respectful reply. I'm not sure a customizable UI is really debatable in the year 2011. I'm not necessarily talking about mods here. If there were some basic stock customization options, I'd be more than happy. Overall, I'm just not convinced that people should have to wait months for these basic features in this day and age. I would rather patiently wait for content rather than for basic features to be implemented.

[titanmike]

The Op is correct of course, those things are basics, 101.

 

What's funny is all of you posting (numbered) list of excuses and apologist nonsense. Very funny. You all know these thing not being implemented is inexcusable.

 

Not trying to make a excuse for them.

I would like some of those features, however I am able to enjoy my game without them. I see no need for me to defend or make excuses for bioware.

 

The features are not in the game, I enjoy the game anyway but hope for new/better features and some upgrades. Bug fixes as well.

 

If you guys, honestly, can not enjoy the game without those features than I am sorry. I hope the game gets better for you, or that you find a better game for you.

[Psycholex]

I'm a fan of Star Wars, SWTOR, and Bioware. But man is Bioware making it difficult for me to defend them. Some of their decisions are mind-bogglingly (is that even a word?) bad. Anybody who has even played one MMO in depth could tell you the following:

 

1) You just have to have searchable forums and individual server forums. No exceptions.

Agree

2) You just have to have more UI customization. No exceptions.

They have stated this is planned in the future, however to have it available at launch would have stopped them being able to identify bugs within their system from bugs in the system of addons / customizations, I agree with this approach

3) You just have to have more graphics options than low and medium. No exceptions.

Agree, there needs to be more variations and functions to enable us to get the best out of the system we use to play the game

4) You just have to have a basic combat log. No exceptions.

Agree, it has been massively annoying when your trying to work out what killed you to not be able to see any form of combat logging

5) You just have to have a working auction house. No exceptions.

The auction house works perfectly for me, yes the functioning is different to that of WoW, but be aware this is not an Auction house, it is an instant sale system.

6) You just have to have plans to encourage/maintain faction population balance. No exceptions. (I realize this one is very difficult to achieve, but I have to admit it looks like Bioware didn't even try on this one).

I Recall seeing something about them addressing the issue, but as you stated yourself, it's difficult.

 

This is a brief list for now, so feel free to add to it. I think most of us can accept some bugs, lightish raid content, and even non-working Ilum in the short term, but some of the basic short-comings are indefensible....even for a fanboi. You see, the haters are going to hate no matter what you do, but to lose the self-professed fanbois as well?

 

That community update on the graphics issues from Stephen Reid was just.....wow. That is all I will say about that one. Wow.

 

It's difficult to comprehend how drastically corners were cut for the biggest budget MMO of all time. Stunning. Bioware needs to go big or go hom here. It's time for someone at Bioware to walk the community through these issues point by point, complete with future plans to address them and rough timelines.

 

Just my opinion

[Skoobie]

The Op is correct of course, those things are basics, 101.

 

What's funny is all of you posting (numbered) list of excuses and apologist nonsense. Very funny. You all know these thing not being implemented is inexcusable.

 

What's funny is how much you claim you don't like the game, yet you are still here.

 

Are you guys really saying you would rather wait in a queue to get in the forums, and have the forums take 2 minutes to load a page as long as there's a search feature?

 

My guess is you would end up complaining about that, instead.

 

Heck yea I want a search feature, but I was on the last time they tried to activate it....

Edited January 11, 2012 by Skoobie

[Leggomy]

The search function is disabled because it uses a lot of resources. Right now the forums are running very smoothly and they hope to keep it that way. Once traffic dies down a little they will turn it back on.

[SamuraBob_Fl]

 

1) You just have to have searchable forums and individual server forums. No exceptions.

2) You just have to have more UI customization. No exceptions.

3) You just have to have more graphics options than low and medium. No exceptions.

4) You just have to have a basic combat log. No exceptions.

5) You just have to have a working auction house. No exceptions.

6) You just have to have plans to encourage/maintain faction population balance. No exceptions. (I realize this one is very difficult to achieve, but I have to admit it looks like Bioware didn't even try on this one).

 

 

1. Forums are overrated.

2. Why? The UI's not bad. Sure customization would be nice, but it's far from necessary.

3. Sure, more graphics are better.

4. No, you really don't.

5. Agreed.

6. What? How? Let people play what they want to where they want to.

[Tiam]

I agree with the OP. I'm a bit disappointed in BW too. It's kind of embarrassing how amateur they are making themselves look.

[JonnyBigBoss]

This is the most feature-less MMO I've played in 4+ years. It's almost like they spent 80% of the development time on voice overs and the script.

[Makade]

Just to be clear, I am a very patient person. I don't burn through leveling faster than everyone else and then spam the forums as to why there is nothing to do at lvl 50. In every MMO I have ever played, I have very patiently waited for content updates. However, I'm just not sure I want to wait for months to get simple/important features that are a given in pretty much ANY MMO on the market (even the really bad F2P ones). I want to patiently wait for CONTENT. That is why I think Bioware needs to very quickly address these types of items. If they aren't as simple as I've made it out to be (which I doubt considering they are standard across the industry), then I am alright with that. However, as we approach 30 days post-launch, I want to see a beefy, comprehensive communication from Bioware - not a snippet here and there.

[Guaritorr]

I'm a fan of Star Wars, SWTOR, and Bioware. But man is Bioware making it difficult for me to defend them. Some of their decisions are mind-bogglingly (is that even a word?) bad. Anybody who has even played one MMO in depth could tell you the following:

 

1) You just have to have searchable forums and individual server forums. No exceptions.

2) You just have to have more UI customization. No exceptions.

3) You just have to have more graphics options than low and medium. No exceptions.

4) You just have to have a basic combat log. No exceptions.

5) You just have to have a working auction house. No exceptions.

6) You just have to have plans to encourage/maintain faction population balance. No exceptions. (I realize this one is very difficult to achieve, but I have to admit it looks like Bioware didn't even try on this one).

 

 

I agree with pretty much everything there, including being a big fan of sw, swtor and bw. I haven't lost faith, and still love the game, but some of these "sometime after launch" things should start happening soon or I might just start to lose that trust.

 

I really really miss the search function, makes it a pain to keep up on all the threads I reply to, and sometimes I just lose track of threads I posted in, never again to find em... and server forums would be awesome, not absolutely necessary as the community can come up with its own alternatives (outside forums), but still something that i'd love to have.

 

The UI customization is something that could use work, its functional, but there are some quality of life things that could really be improved, and I'm still getting an incredibly annoying bug where it'll randomly be unresponsive (tooltips dont show up, cant click on anything), and its happening more frequently, getting me killed in pvp or by pve mobs.

 

The basic combat log is probably the thing I'm most upset about, I haven't realized how much I used it until I didn't have it. I desperately miss seeing what went wrong, what I died to, what I can interrupt next fight, if i moved out of the aoe or if it was bigger then the graphic, and all kinds of analysis without even talking about character dps.

 

The AH is my least important issue on the list, it works, granted its a pain to search through, but at least it does basically what it's supposed to.

 

The faction balance however, no idea how they can address that without imposing caps or something like that. Even with caps, there are going to be more people wanting to play empire then republic, its really just a personal choice, dunno if you can make the republic more appealing. It'd be great if they could manage something though, I am getting a little tired of huttball.

[Valperion]

This is the most feature-less MMO I've played in 4+ years. It's almost like they spent 80% of the development time on voice overs and the script.

 

You sir , finally got it.

 

+1

[Grammarye]

You forgot to format your post properly.

 

try

{

}

catch(Biowares_Exceptions e)

{

// No exceptions.

}

 

I have to say I'm in the 'I am not fussed' quarter about several of those things, and could name you successful MMOs that I've played & enjoyed that don't have them. They'd be nice, sure.

Edited January 11, 2012 by Grammarye

[Skoobie]

However, I'm just not sure I want to wait for months to get simple/important features that are a given in pretty much ANY MMO on the market (even the really bad F2P ones).

 

But what you are forgetting is that "pretty much any MMO on the market" didn't have all those features at launch, either.

[SWGVet]

I agree with your list OP. You are right too.

[EternalFinality]

The OP is absolutely right on every point. Not having this stuff is simply amateur hour at Bioware, especially when other MMOs launched with these features from the start.

 

Why does BioWare need you to defend them? Do you work for their legal department?

 

This is why:

 

Friend A: "You guys play TOR right? Is it any good? I got some money from Christmas but I'm still not sure whether I want to get it."

Me: "Yeah it's really fun. It's pretty much like WoW but with a story."

Friend B: "It's terrible compared to other MMOs. There isn't even a combat log."

Friend A: "Seriously?"

Friend B: "Yes. And they don't even have an auction house. It's just a store. And there's no mods. And everyone went Empire so the population is screwed up and PvP sucks."

Friend A: "....Oh."

Me: "..."

 

You see, I can't defend the crippling flaws because they're all true. And Bioware just lost a sale. Word of mouth is pretty damn important.

[Makade]

1. Forums are overrated.

2. Why? The UI's not bad. Sure customization would be nice, but it's far from necessary.

3. Sure, more graphics are better.

4. No, you really don't.

5. Agreed.

6. What? How? Let people play what they want to where they want to.

 

Look, I realize faction balance is difficult to achieve, and I am by no means advocating limited player selection of any sort. However, what are the plans to address this? I know the game just launched, but somebody, somewhere in the recesses of the Bioware studio MUST have asked the question: "what if we have GROSS faction imbalance after launch? What will we do to address this? *usually ignored nerd in the back of the room raises his hand* Maybe we need to design really bada*s armor models for BOTH factions or give experience buffs to the anemic faction."

[Makade]

The search function is disabled because it uses a lot of resources. Right now the forums are running very smoothly and they hope to keep it that way. Once traffic dies down a little they will turn it back on.

 

I could support this approach. However, when/where have they said they will ever turn it back on?

[Skoobie]

I could support this approach. However, when/where have they said they will ever turn it back on?

 

They did last week, for a short time.

 

Like I posted, I was online when it happened, and saw what it did to the forums.

 

I was surfing along just fine, then all of a sudden I started getting sent to the forum queue, and the forums bogged down. I honestly thought that Bioware had made a huge announcement and the forums were getting nailed. Soon enough, it all stopped. Then there were posts saying" hey...wasn't the search feature just here?"

 

There is also a post from Bioware talking about it.

Edited January 11, 2012 by Skoobie

[Makade]

But what you are forgetting is that "pretty much any MMO on the market" didn't have all those features at launch, either.

 

The ones I have played in the last several years have.

[SamuraBob_Fl]

The OP is absolutely right on every point. Not having this stuff is simply amateur hour at Bioware, especially when other MMOs launched with these features from the start.

 

 

 

This is why:

 

Friend A: "You guys play TOR right? Is it any good? I got some money from Christmas but I'm still not sure whether I want to get it."

Me: "Yeah it's really fun. It's pretty much like WoW but with a story."

Friend B: "It's terrible compared to other MMOs. There isn't even a combat log."

Friend A: "Seriously?"

Friend B: "Yes. And they don't even have an auction house. It's just a store. And there's no mods. And everyone went Empire so the population is screwed up and PvP sucks."

Friend A: "....Oh."

Me: "..."

 

You see, I can't defend the crippling flaws because they're all true. And Bioware just lost a sale. Word of mouth is pretty damn important.

 

How did the combat log somehow become a big deal?

 

And yeah, there is an auction house. The interface sucks, but it's still a real AH.

[GreymaneAlpha]

I'm still blown away at the number of awful keybind / ability problems.

 

You can't rebind self-cast to alt.

You can't unbind \ key directly

You can't have your companion bar shown at the same time as your secondary bottom bar.

You can't create a macro to do even super basic [help]/[harm]/[mouseover]/etc functionality.

You can't can't move or resize your ability bars to be in the same region of the screen

etc

 

Plus, the other bizarre UI features missing:

You can't hit 'enter' to select your character

You can't tab between players while whispering

You can't select targets by nameplates

etc

 

It's really like no one on the UI development team ever played another MMO seriously.

[Skoobie]

The ones I have played in the last several years have.

 

Like?

 

Rift maybe....but what others?

[Makade]

Like?

 

Rift maybe....but what others?

 

I thought about answering this, but I don't want the thread to devolve into a discussion about specific games. All I will say is if you have played most AAA MMOs (and quite a few non-AAA ones) in the last few years, you'd know what I was talking about.

[Krashnburn]

I 100% agree with the OP. It is hard to understand why anyone would not.

 

I would add:

 

1. PvP brackets-----Not just a level 50 bracket. A level 49 vs a level 10 is almost as unbalanced......and no bolster is not the answer. (You would have thought they would have learned that lesson with War Hammer)

 

B. A guild bank.

 

3. A combat log....needed to be said again.

 

That said, I still love the game. Voice acting and story content and immersion is great. I have yet to feel I am grinding.

 

With the exception of grinding valor vs lvl 50 pre-mades that give me flashback nightmares of War Hammer Scenarios after they introduced OP renown levels and gear!

[rzrknight]

Well wow is 7 years old , got millions of players , and guess what ? It is faction unbalanced.

One does not simple

Balance Factions.