Zones/Planets are Just dead..

[Jalliah]

Reading these threads is really weird. The only planet I didn't see tons of people, constantly, was Quesh and even then I saw a person every 10 minutes or so. I was on Ilum for the first time last night and it was swarming with people. 47-50 on Corellia there were plenty of people too. Granted, I'm Imperial so that could be why.

 

Yeah my main characters right now are Republic, mostly because I got hooked on the Smuggler story. I do have an Imperial alt which I haven't done much with yet. I sometimes just log her on to see the difference in pops between the 2 factions. Many times it's been more the double.

 

I assumed from the beginning though that playing Republic would be lonelier them Empire so it doesn't bug me. lol I always seem to gravitate to the 'underdog' faction in any MMO I play.

[Ganix_tx]

There does seem to be a good number of people that hang out at fleet, but on the planets it can get quite lonely. General chat is even pretty dead, and I play on a heavy pop server.

 

Agreed. This has to be the deadest chat in any MMO I have seen. Sometimes I will go 20-30 minutes without seeing anyone post in chat.

[Marlaine]

I assumed from the beginning though that playing Republic would be lonelier them Empire so it doesn't bug me. lol I always seem to gravitate to the 'underdog' faction in any MMO I play.

 

What was the reasoning for this assumption? Mine, based on my experience in wow, was the opposite. I assumed most people would want to play the good guys, and the "bad guys" would be the underdog faction. It's been that way in wow since the very beginning. I can't see why it would be any different for Star Wars.

 

Why was I incorrect (because I was clearly wrong)? Is it because star wars isn't as popular with the younger generations as it is with the older generations? And as such the older people gravitate towards the "bad guy faction"?

 

It's unfortunate, because like you, I had more interest in playing the "underdog faction". I thought that would be the Empire...

Edited January 12, 2012 by Marlaine

[CapitaFK]

Comparing it to the elephant in the room (WoW), they have about the same level of NPC non-combat movement.

 

I personally don't have any problem with it. But I guess I'm too busy playing to notice =/

 

Not really. From release, everything in The Barrens moved. And when they were static, they looked like they were supposed to be (standing guard, sleeping on the grass). Usually mobs were patrolling a small area, some (Kodos and Gazelles) actually migrated, centaurs galloped all over the place, plainstriders kinda just plodded along, etc. There were patrols on the roads, some animals actively hunted others. This was how the game was in 2004, and that's just naming The Barrens. All the other areas were very similar.

 

SW:ToR, pretty dead.

Edited January 12, 2012 by CapitaFK

[Quaade]

In WoW things happens in the world, even if it is as scripted as anywhere else. In some areas you have predators suddently attacking prey. I've seen wolves hunt after critters. There are some bears in Northrend that are standing by a river and actually fishing for food, sometimes they get lucky, other times they don't.

 

A rabbit running across a meadow, a squirrel ducking behind a tree, a roach spreading its wings and fluttering about before landing another place, two mobs engaging in conversation a patroller coming in to join them, perhaps berate them, then walks off again.

 

 

TOR lacks all these small touches that serves to make the gameworld something other than a field where you kill things. Even the wamprats in Anchorhead on Tatooine are just another kind of angry mobs that will attack you if you get too close.

 

There is nothing in the game that tells the story about the zone, with one exception, the Nightmare Forest on Voss. Whatever the designers were on when they made that should had been given to them earlier because you can actually feel what the zone is about just from being in it. It still lacks the small touches like critters and such but goddammit it actually has an atmossphere and an ambience beyond "field with groups of 2-4 mobs, kill at your own leassure."

[CapitaFK]

It's really not that much different then other games I've played. In my few months on WOW for instance besides the starting areas I barely ever ran into anyone with the exception of the cities where everyone seemed to hang out. I was on a PVP server for a bit and besides the odd city invasion I can count the number of times on my hands that I had an open world PVP encounter just from randomly bumping into an opposing faction member.

Not trying to insult you or anything. Just saying, I highly doubt this. I played WoW on release up to WotLK. From 1-60 and until TBC came out, not an hour could go by without running into someone from the opposite faction. Be it while leveling, gathering, heading from point A to point B, running to a raid, I always found someone to PVP against in open world PVP. Every single day. Even in non-contested zones, you'd generally find Alliance building up an army somewhere.

 

Contrast that with this game where I've only run into Imperials once in open world PVP on my Smuggler, and haven't ran into Republic at all on my Bounty Hunter.

Edited January 12, 2012 by CapitaFK

[SySnootles]

Its like someone forget to press the play button and everything is on pause ..

 

Most Zones and just big open area (and imo they all feel the same)- with random mobs just waiting to be attacked - the game feels so sterile -

 

Its like they game designers just opened up mob-pack-one from the drop down list picked entity1 then plonked them down, then moved on to another area -

 

Ive seen more life from NPC/Mobs in free world-builder software you get with games like half-life etc Gary's Mod being one

 

No weather cycles No day/night cycles - No little critters just wondering about, Nothing just random mods Waiting to be killed--

 

Sometimes I think I've lost connection with the server the worlds are so Static

 

On my server (kellian jaro) the only zone where i consistently see other players running around is at the imperial fleet, nowhere else.

 

Even tho i can get groups for heroics going when i need them, my questing is devoid of any kind of immersion of playing in an mmo, it feels just like a single player game.

[Godsfear]

Why would anyone make a game like this? Singleplayer, MP, MMO, sandbox, themepark, story or no story.. No matter what kind of game it is, it just makes no sense. Makes me think the lead dev must be some sort of OCD control freak or something.

 

This ^

 

The BW leadership obviously checked out when EA purchased them.

 

The real owners of BW that made it great are sipping cocktails on 6 million dollar yachts.

 

I think they probably stopped caring about gaming when the zero was added onto their checks.

[Godalo]

Its like someone forget to press the play button and everything is on pause ..

 

Most Zones and just big open area (and imo they all feel the same)- with random mobs just waiting to be attacked - the game feels so sterile -

 

Its like they game designers just opened up mob-pack-one from the drop down list picked entity1 then plonked them down, then moved on to another area -

 

Ive seen more life from NPC/Mobs in free world-builder software you get with games like half-life etc Gary's Mod being one

 

No weather cycles No day/night cycles - No little critters just wondering about, Nothing just random mods Waiting to be killed--

 

Sometimes I think I've lost connection with the server the worlds are so Static

 

Then Guild Wars 2 comes along and rids that problem for you

[Jessabeans]

The game feels more like a movie set than a world. Not in a good way.

[CyberData]

Hey, everyone flocked to the themepark that was WoW and guess what? MMOs=Themepark now. Congrats.

[uziforyou]

I'd also love random animals roaming that I could tame and use as mounts, hi-jackable starships in the starports, random mini-games hosted by GM's....

 

Seriously, just because they didn't implement tons of content you specifically want DOES NOT MEAN the game is dead.

 

This.

 

Played WoW for 7 years. It was/is the same as the OP describes and it's hardly dead/dying so I'm doubting this one is either.

[MaverickXIV]

I never knew the idle animation of cockroaches was so important...

[uziforyou]

Not trying to insult you or anything. Just saying, I highly doubt this. I played WoW on release up to WotLK. From 1-60 and until TBC came out, not an hour could go by without running into someone from the opposite faction. Be it while leveling, gathering, heading from point A to point B, running to a raid, I always found someone to PVP against in open world PVP. Every single day. Even in non-contested zones, you'd generally find Alliance building up an army somewhere.

 

Contrast that with this game where I've only run into Imperials once in open world PVP on my Smuggler, and haven't ran into Republic at all on my Bounty Hunter.

 

Well, I'll disagree with your disagreement. Played WoW from launch until December 18th this year. If you are anywhere besides Cataclysm zones, it's mostly empty. Yet WoW still has 11 million customers...................

 

PvP in WoW is almost exclusively done is battlegrounds. While some so called 'world' PvP happens, it's almost extinct in WoW.

[Jalliah]

What was the reasoning for this assumption? Mine, based on my experience in wow, was the opposite. I assumed most people would want to play the good guys, and the "bad guys" would be the underdog faction. It's been that way in wow since the very beginning. I can't see why it would be any different for Star Wars.

 

Why was I incorrect (because I was clearly wrong)? Is it because star wars isn't as popular with the younger generations as it is with the older generations? And as such the older people gravitate towards the "bad guy faction"?

 

It's unfortunate, because like you, I had more interest in playing the "underdog faction". I thought that would be the Empire...

 

 

Mostly because most every one I knew was planning to go Empire and from comments on forums through beta. I'm not sure that age is factor though it would be interesting to find out if that is the case.

[Jederix]

this is just flat out wrong.

 

No, it pretty much isn't. The mobs in WoW do move somewhat more than those in SWTOR, but don't kid yourself, they have a set path they walk over and over again. Hardly revolutionary.

[Jederix]

Agreed. This has to be the deadest chat in any MMO I have seen. Sometimes I will go 20-30 minutes without seeing anyone post in chat.

 

I knew there was something I liked about this game. Seriously, chat is rarely more than idiots talking about stupid crap that has nothing to do with the game. Though sometimes entertaining, it rarely rises above adolescent rambling. I don't care about your political views or what your favorite television show is, let's just play the game, shall we?

[UA_Wookie]

Hey, everyone flocked to the themepark that was WoW and guess what? MMOs=Themepark now. Congrats.

 

I see this comment alot. I would love if SWTOR was like WoW in this regard. But, sadly, it's not even close. SWTOR is so ultra linear, restrictive, and lifeless that it makes WoW look like a sandbox game in comparison. It's not even close.

 

I would kill for a game that was pretty much like WoW but Star Wars with the voice-overs and story.

[Quaade]

I never knew the idle animation of cockroaches was so important...

 

It is, it's the small things that matters, sure you can get the big things wrong, who cares about the big things, who cares if the modellers uses trees that only grows on two seperate continent, what matters is that it's a forest, it's there and it looks like a forest.

 

However if they didn't put in the sound of the birds, rustling of leaves in the wind and critters, your mind will scream at you "PAY ATTENTION! SOMETHING IS WRONG HERE!!!" because it doesn't -feel- like a forest.

 

This is what a forest is:

Trees scattered on a field in large enough quantities, in the woods there are birds, you can hear the leaves and you can see animals if lucky.

 

TOR so far gets the first part right in that they show what a given place looks like, they just never show what ANY of the places feel like (Nightmare Forest excepted and that's still only 50 % right).

 

It's like the Uncanney Valley: it might look human but it doesn't feel human.

[Quaade]

I see this comment alot. I would love if SWTOR was like WoW in this regard. But, sadly, it's not even close. SWTOR is so ultra linear, restrictive, and lifeless that it makes WoW look like a sandbox game in comparison. It's not even close.

 

I would kill for a game that was pretty much like WoW but Star Wars with the voice-overs and story.

 

Yeah, it's not Blizzard's fault that everyone wants to be like them, it's the others fault for wanting to be like Blizzard.

 

Blizzard didn't "kill" the MMO genre, countless firms who tried to be like WoW did instead of being themselves did.

[Pheroras]

the unused PvE zones from Warhammer Online were much better than the tOR PvE zones

 

there are times when i am playing tOR when the only sound is my toons footsteps plodding through the big empty

[Jalliah]

Not trying to insult you or anything. Just saying, I highly doubt this. I played WoW on release up to WotLK. From 1-60 and until TBC came out, not an hour could go by without running into someone from the opposite faction. Be it while leveling, gathering, heading from point A to point B, running to a raid, I always found someone to PVP against in open world PVP. Every single day. Even in non-contested zones, you'd generally find Alliance building up an army somewhere.

 

Contrast that with this game where I've only run into Imperials once in open world PVP on my Smuggler, and haven't ran into Republic at all on my Bounty Hunter.

 

Well I'm not lying. This was my experience on the server I was on. I played last spring for a few months. Maybe it was different in years before. The only time, besides when a group decided to invade a city and our side managed to get enough people to go fight them I ever really PVP'd was in a BG. If I wanted to see people beyond LFG I'd go to Stormwind which was usually packed or the areas that people dueled in. I really didn't find a whole lot of difference between the PVP and PVE servers I was one. The pop patterns were the same.

 

Starting areas=people. Main cities=people. Everywhere else=oh look there is someone.

 

Of course when Firelands came out tons of people there.

Edited January 12, 2012 by Jalliah

[Zeppelin]

They just need to invent a holo-deck and be done with it. Course I'm sure people would even complain about that some how. Edited January 12, 2012 by Zeppelin

[Sevenpatch]

I think you are in the minority, then. I supposedly have a heavy population server and still rarely see anyone while levelling over the past week.

 

I don't know who is in the minority but I'll say this, since I leveled into the 40's, I see less people (47 now). Maybe it's the higher level worlds design or perhaps it's because a lot of the population playing are sitting between level 10 and 30 taking their sweet time (playing multiple characters).

 

Or maybe there are more 50's then we realize who spend all there time doing warzones/operations/flashpoints or just stopped playing.

[Laeris]

IT gets worse later on. Sure, there might be 150 people on Dromund Kaas/Coruscant, but at the same time... it's pretty standard to have 20 on Hoth or about the same on Ilum.

 

People like to say, "People are leveling slow..." etc etc. But come on now, the game takes no time to make 50 if you just stick to one toon. What's happening is people are not playing much after level 30. Some people are but It's a very stark nosedive in population later on.

 

Those later level planets are even bigger... and more devoid of life. I'm on a heavy pop server and I haven't gotten into a group for any of the end-game hard modes in almost a week and the only things I see people doing are Mandalorian Raiders and below.

 

The reason why has to do with the absolutely cheap design and implementation of this game. The linear progression and non-variance of content is mind numbing if you roll an alt on the same faction as your main. The only thing that's different is the storyline quests. You get to grind 75-80% of the same exact content in pretty much the same exact order as you did before and you have the same exact assortment of companion classes to do the same exact thing you did that worked the last time.

 

All well and good though, right?! What MMO doesn't have repetitious alt grinds? Well, SWTOR has no meaningful end-game. There's no need to craft because its a massive credit sink that doesn't scale to 50. The best gear you can get is your PvP gear pretty much. Congratulations, all the hard work you did amassing orange armor and training skills to put good rare mods in it comes out to mean diddly in the end. Grats, you've just wasted 350k credits on nothing.

 

Oh, and I hope you like looking like everybody else because the mods on Epic vendor gear are locked.

 

That's why people are quitting. That's why I say this feels like a single player game. We end up looking like clowns in mismatched gear for the first 40 levels then get a nice L40 set... then another clown suit at 50. That's what single player games do... who cares because nobody else sees it but you? In MMOs... players want variety. We don't all want to go from A to F via the order of B-C-D-E every. single. time. We want to wear different things.

 

This game's focus is on our single player storyline content. Nothing this game does can ever escape that since that's what this game's foundation is built upon. We can rerun Black Talon/Esseless 58 times for social 4... but that's ridiculous. That's really the only time you need to socialize with anybody. You can go out of your way to clutter up your gameplay by adding others... but we know how that works out. You just end up getting someone who afks through every cutscene and a normal 2 minute convo somehow ends up taking 10 minutes.

 

I'm glad some people like the game. Me, I find it fun but nauseatingly tedious. Oh, and its visual complexity ranks right up there with the Clone Wars animated feature.