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

[Desseus]

1. Forum search is down temporarily. Probably better then no forums or buggy forums. The server forums i tend to agree with you.

 

2. yes, but the current UI is not unusable so just relax and tough it out.

 

3. They explained this recently look at the developer tracker.

 

4. I heard they had it in beta but took it out. Maybe it was having problems and their working on it.

 

5. I can use the Auction house just fine. It is not the easiest interface but I have had no problems buying and selling items.

 

6. It too early to start trying to balance server populations. Your going to have drop-off after the first 30-days so you can't do anything until after that at the earliest.

 

None of these issues should be causing you to run around in circles and make fire engine noises.

 

I completly agree with this I mean SWTOR has just come out and no MMO really has a good start when it is fully released into the market. Aion servers were too few and were full 24/7 for the first few days, Warhammer online did not had dedicated servers at the start so lag was an issue, WoW vanilla was not 100% fine it had bugs and glitches like most games when they are released, and some features that people are demanding were not in these MMOs from release as well. We just need to give Bioware a few months. If nothing happens THEN we spam the forums making demands.

[EternalFinality]

How did the combat log somehow become a big deal?

 

I want to see how much damage I am dealing. My regular attack hits three times - how much damage did I just hit for? How much damage does my initial rotation actually deal? How much is my dot ability really dealing? Is it more or less than a direct damage that costs the same amount that has talents increasing its damage? Which abilities are wasting my time and should be pulled off my hotbars?

 

In PvP, what the hell did someone just do to me? How much damage are their abilities dealing to me? What did I just get CC'd by? Did my attack just get absorbed by a shield? Who did I just kill? Did that person just get healed or did they use a consumable? Who is even healing this guy so I can target them instead?

 

These things are incredibly important to players with skill, and any MMO veteran.

[Chomag]

In before "go back to wow".

[Makade]

1- Searchable Forums are being worked on. It's a traffic vs. forum coding issue. They've posted about it. Essentially you all post too much it kills the search button. They're working on getting it back.

 

2- UI Customization is coming.

 

3- Graphics options being worked on.

 

4- Basic combat log being considered.

 

5- They have a "working" auction house already. Improvements are on their list of things to do.

 

6- BOLOGNA. There does not need to be any work done by the game developer to encourage faction balance. That's all on the players. If the players want faction imbalance, they'll create faction imbalance.

 

7- Guild Bank is also on their list of things to do.

 

So to recap, 6 things they're working no. 1 thing that is all the fault of the players.

 

List fail.

 

 

1) Since when are searchable forums such a technological feat?

 

2) UI customization is coming. True, but I would prefer a big budget game released in 2011 to have it at launch. How much actual content development gets pushed back for this?

 

3) If I had a dime for every time I've heard this. See number 2.

 

4) Combat log "being considered" isn't good enough for me. Sorry. Similarily, I'm "considering" sending you $10,000, so I'm sure the first thing you'll do is go buy $10,000 worth of stuff later today.

 

5) Apparently you and I have a different expectation for an auction house. Sadly, my expectations are pretty low and yet the GTN doesn't deliver. I realize changes are on their list to do, but see number 2.

 

6) So developers hold zero responsibility for developing a two faction game that has a fighting chance at recruiting players to both factions? Are you new to this?

 

7) See number 2.

[Artkil-E-]

those things are not even close to important..

 

why have 2 factions and so called mirror classes when it's not.. Waste of time.. Bioware clearly showing they have no idea what they are doing..

 

And their CS is horrible.. BOTXXX closed ticket added to recycle bin.. thanks for your time.. LOL

[Rizque]

I agree with a lot of the OP's points. I mean, server forums are not difficult to implement. UI customization should've been a feature at release. A search feature for the auction house is also a no brainer.

 

I would also love to have more graphic options, especially increasing the drawdistance as seeing grass grow as you move is depressing in a new 2011 game release. I'm going to give them a bit more time on the graphic issue.

 

However, the earlier points are clearly things that bioware failed at.

[ManuNegra]

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).

7) Guild bank. No exceptions.

 

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.

 

Edit: Adding items to the list as they are mentioned below.

 

1) You just have to start with a perfect, finished product, no exceptions.

2) When you release a game you have to first go to the future so you can establish 20/20 hindsight then come back and finish your game, no exceptions.

 

No offense man, but what other MMO's have you played at launch? You want them to have foolproof plans to maintain population balance, right out of the gate? Are you serious? Yeah, that "other game" totally pulled that one off, no wonder it failed miserably...oh wait, it like, turned MMO's into a mainstream genre and removed it from the province of hardcore exclusivity, so I guess the fact that it had....3 of the things on your list at its own launch didn't really affect much of anything.

 

Wait, on second thought, you're right, Bioware should wake up and realize that good MMO's are made or broken by the presence of combat logs in the first 2 months of their existence...

[Kodokai]

Higher priority.

 

Lag in Warzones.

Lag in Fleet.

Ability Delays.

[SamuraBob_Fl]

Higher priority.

 

Lag in Warzones.

Lag in Fleet.

Ability Delays.

 

Yeah, IMO ability delay is the biggest problem this game has right now. Needs a solution ASAP.

[Mannic]

I agree with everything on your list OP.

 

And for those saying faction balance is impossible, well, it's impossible for the developer to assure balance, but they could have done a much better job than they've done so far.

 

It was very, very clear in beta that Imp was going to be the dominant faction. This should have given Bioware the heads up that there were issues on the Republic side.

 

1. Jedi are boring and the stories for both Knight and Consular just aren't that great. Not only that, but being a light-sided Jedi means literally behaving like a Boy Scout at all times and just basically having NO personality. In fact, I would venture to say that there's not a single story on the Republic side that is equal in general approval to the corresponding mirror class story on Empire side. Hell, even the Imperial ships are cooler than their Republic counterparts, with the possible exception of maybe the Trooper vs. BH ships.

 

2. One or two races could have been added specifically on the Republic side to attract more players interested in playing those races like, for example, Togruta.

 

3. Twi'leks could have been removed from the Imp side, becoming Republic exclusive. It only makes sense-- Imps are institutionally specist. In fact, you could have limited Imps to Purebloods, Humans, and Cyborgs and cured at least some of the faction imbalance while staying a little more true to canon. Instead, it's the Empire that has the ONE exclusive race that is actually somewhat unique (Chiss,) a race which is also very popular from the Thrawn trilogy. Republic has Miraluka, who are virtually unknown compared to the Chiss, and who barely even qualify as a unique race.

 

4. The Jedi starting zone shouldn't take 50% longer to get through than the Sith zone. It's very noticeable that Korriban is very tightly laid-out, run times are almost non-existent, and the questing there is faster. Tython, on the other hand, is a windy, annoying maze and almost all the quests there take longer.

 

So even in terms of story, convenience, aesthetics, you name it, there seems to be virtually no advantage to rolling Republic over Empire unless you just had your heart set on being Luke Skywalker or Han Solo. (Most of us aren't 12 any more and don't make our decisions that way.)

 

I think Bioware errantly assumed that players would be falling all over themselves for the chance to be Jedi, and so they had to do everything they could to make the Empire more appealing. If that's the case it's another example of Bioware's inexperience in this genre. Because in every MMO ever the evil side has had the numerical advantage. You don't compound the problem by also incentivizing the evil side.

Edited January 11, 2012 by Mannic

[Darth_Urtani]

I have to agree. I really like the game, but it has a lot of negative aspects to it.

(ESPECIALLY the customizations of armor, character, UI, etc)

[Makade]

those things are not even close to important..

 

why have 2 factions and so called mirror classes when it's not.. Waste of time.. Bioware clearly showing they have no idea what they are doing..

 

And their CS is horrible.. BOTXXX closed ticket added to recycle bin.. thanks for your time.. LOL

 

Did I ever say these items were the most important? Learn reading comprehension. I simply gave a list of things that should have been ironed out either before release or almost immediately after release. This amateur stuff really hurts the game's and Bioware's reputations. In other words, these things SHOULD be a non-issue. Instead, the next few patches will be devoted to developing rather standard things that should have been done from the beginning.

[Zilliz]

cheers Edited January 12, 2012 by Zilliz

[Makade]

1) You just have to start with a perfect, finished product, no exceptions.

2) When you release a game you have to first go to the future so you can establish 20/20 hindsight then come back and finish your game, no exceptions.

 

No offense man, but what other MMO's have you played at launch? You want them to have foolproof plans to maintain population balance, right out of the gate? Are you serious? Yeah, that "other game" totally pulled that one off, no wonder it failed miserably...oh wait, it like, turned MMO's into a mainstream genre and removed it from the province of hardcore exclusivity, so I guess the fact that it had....3 of the things on your list at its own launch didn't really affect much of anything.

 

Wait, on second thought, you're right, Bioware should wake up and realize that good MMO's are made or broken by the presence of combat logs in the first 2 months of their existence...

 

Your reply is full of hyperbole. You think the things I listed are asking too much? So much so that one would require a trip to the future complete with hindsight to recognize them? Odd. Another example, where in my post did I say I wanted "foolproof" plans to maintain balance? I simply want a basic plan of action for what has occurred...nothing more, nothing less. I don't buy the argument that somehow a big-budget development company holds no responsibility for developing a two faction game that has a fighting chance to attract players to both factions.

[Makade]

I agree with everything on your list OP.

 

And for those saying faction balance is impossible, well, it's impossible for the developer to assure balance, but they could have done a much better job than they've done so far.

 

It was very, very clear in beta that Imp was going to be the dominant faction. This should have given Bioware the heads up that there were issues on the Republic side.

 

1. Jedi are boring and the stories for both Knight and Consular just aren't that great. Not only that, but being a light-sided Jedi means literally behaving like a Boy Scout at all times and just basically having NO personality. In fact, I would venture to say that there's not a single story on the Republic side that is equal in general approval to the corresponding mirror class story on Empire side. Hell, even the Imperial ships are cooler than their Republic counterparts, with the possible exception of maybe the Trooper vs. BH ships.

 

2. One or two races could have been added specifically on the Republic side to attract more players interested in playing those races like, for example, Togruta.

 

3. Twi'leks could have been removed from the Imp side, becoming Republic exclusive. It only makes sense-- Imps are institutionally specist. In fact, you could have limited Imps to Purebloods, Humans, and Cyborgs and cured at least some of the faction imbalance while staying a little more true to canon. Instead, it's the Empire that has the ONE exclusive race that is actually somewhat unique (Chiss,) a race which is also very popular from the Thrawn trilogy. Republic has Miraluka, who are virtually unknown compared to the Chiss, and who barely even qualify as a unique race.

 

4. The Jedi starting zone shouldn't take 50% longer to get through than the Sith zone. It's very noticeable that Korriban is very tightly laid-out, run times are almost non-existent, and the questing there is faster. Tython, on the other hand, is a windy, annoying maze and almost all the quests there take longer.

 

So even in terms of story, convenience, aesthetics, you name it, there seems to be virtually no advantage to rolling Republic over Empire unless you just had your heart set on being Luke Skywalker or Han Solo. (Most of us aren't 12 any more and don't make our decisions that way.)

 

I think Bioware errantly assumed that players would be falling all over themselves for the chance to be Jedi, and so they had to do everything they could to make the Empire more appealing. If that's the case it's another example of Bioware's inexperience in this genre. Because in every MMO ever the evil side has had the numerical advantage. You don't compound the problem by also incentivizing the evil side.

 

Thank you for expanding upon this point.

[Makade]

Yeah, IMO ability delay is the biggest problem this game has right now. Needs a solution ASAP.

 

Yeah, and wouldn't you rather they work on this most important issue post-launch rather than designing a GTN with search functionality? That's my point.

[Makade]

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

Server forums aren't a game breaker in any way.

 

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

UI customization? Not a big deal, their UI is clean cut and easy to use. Sorry you got used to WoW.

 

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

Did you see the "high" setting? I'll give you that there isn't a lot of custom options but they are adding anti-aliasing and that should give you everything you need. If you have a good gaming computer the graphics look great and there is nothing wrong with these options.

 

 

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

Sure, I'll give this to you. A combat log would be helpful, but it isn't going to make or break a game.

 

Being able to see why you just got melted would be nice, if it was some lucky crits from one or two players or how it happened. I just have a feeling you want to sit on a "training dummy" and watch your combat log so you can find a cookie cutter build and think you are a good player.

 

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

If you spend 5 minutes on the AH you will figure it out, at least most people with common sense will. I all say you should be able to search by name rather than breaking it down so much.. but I've made 5million credits so far from AH, so not that bad.

 

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'm sure you have inside knowledge about how Bioware doesn't even try on this... keep up the amazing work. Server population is a difficult topic and hard for a company to truly make all server even without restriction people from making characters on a specific faction. I'm sure they are doing everything they can to analyze the current situation and come up with options.

 

7) Guild bank. No exceptions.

No exceptions? you sound like a broken record that should just be thrown away. Guild banks can be useful but are in no way a game breaker. Just chat with guildies, if they need something give it to them. Do you normally make a ton of lvl 50 purple items like mods, implants and gear and throw in the bank? I'm sure you don't. Most gear in the game will be from PvP vendors and raid content. No one is making 100 med packs and 100 stims for their guildies, it's not viable. You either have a rakata or you don't. Sure, some PvE raiding guilds might make stims for people, but in no way does that justify a guild bank.

 

 

 

The only thing you have going for you is you didn't say "You must have macros." For that, I'll give you some credit. Again, stop saying "no exceptions"...

 

Cheers.

 

Again...sigh.....I don't think the items on my list are "game breaking". I use the phrase "no exceptions" because these very basic items should be in the biggest-budget MMO in history.....no exceptions.

 

P.S. There are only low and medium settings in actuality. Read the dev posts.

Edited January 12, 2012 by Makade

[sotadpole]

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).

7) Guild bank. No exceptions.

 

 

1) Searchable, yes. In this day and age that's a glaring oversight. Individual server forums, a nice addition, but hardly necessary.

2) UI customization is nice, but again not really needed if the current UI is functional.

3) Graphics options or clarification is needed.

4) Combat log is nice, and helps as a reference to improve yourself, but if you're killing things your level or slightly higher than you're probalby fine. Again, not really needed.

5) Auction house works, it just has a crappy interface.

6) Population balance is needed for any game with openworld PvP.

7) Guild bank isn't really necessary, but it is a nice feature.

 

See, I can have opinions too!

Edited January 12, 2012 by sotadpole

[Deepmemories]

your'e missing 10 or more other things.

[Rayaleith]

Don't worry WoW trolls have no souls so we know you can't be shameless.

 

now this is a nice post...

[UNEEDSKILLZ]

I find Your lack of faith disturbing. Edited January 12, 2012 by UNEEDSKILLZ

[warkat]

ban for bumping your own dribble.

[Rayaleith]

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....

 

You mean that forums that have search (well.. ALL in the internet have) have any time of queue or low availability?

[Bakarn]

So how, pray tell, do you expect them to maintain server balance?

[Skoobie]

You mean that forums that have search (well.. ALL in the internet have) have any time of queue or low availability?

 

No. I mean last week, when Bioware had the search feature enabled here for a short time, that's what happened.

 

The Op is saying "no exceptions".

 

I'm saying, breaking the forums is definitely an exception.

Edited January 12, 2012 by Skoobie