Please don't rush through this game!

[hubmarc]

A couple of questions for the community:

 

I really don't get why people are so determined on reaching the level cap as soon as possible. Where's the fun in that? It's quite obvious that in a game that has just been released there might be very little to do once you reach 50. And indeed, people are already complaining about the lack of endgame content here on the forums. Why do you do that to yourselves and your fellow players?

 

This Game is really huge, content-wise. Of course, you can only enjoy this feature if story and character development are something you're actually interested in. But if you're not, why play this particular game in the first place?

 

It has always been advertised as a story-driven game and that is what Bioware and the whole KOTOR franchise stand for anyway. So why are people treating SWTOR like some kind of e-sports event, as if there were any real benefits from 'crossing the finish line'?

 

I know this is in part due to a fundamental flaw in the MMO - concept, where in the end it has to come down to who has the biggest gun, the most exclusive mount, the shiniest armor and so on. But I have been playing a lot of MMOs and here i thought this is finally one that agrees with my desire to immerse myself in a completely made-up universe, where I don't have to act like an *****#*/= , to outpace my competitors like it so often seems to be in real life these days.

 

I play on a RP-server, by the way. But even there, people are running through flashpoints, screaming 'GOGOGO' and force-leaping into the fray like there was a reward for finishing the thing faster than anyone before. Nobody talks about anything, or waits a few second for a straggler, or for someones force/energy/ammo bars to refill. And once it's over you barely have time to say 'thanks' or even 'good bye' before the group dissipates into infinite space.

 

I used to play RIFT before this one, and I really liked the story and a lot of other things. What struck me as very odd was the fact that you could sometimes be in a raid with a hundred other players, and beat up some giant invading the countryside and not read a single line of communication in the chat window. It was actually quite easy to find a group or even a raid just by running in to a certain area. But nobody seemed to care about each other. Sadly, a certain other MMO (whose name I will not mention here, because it already is all over the place) comes to mind, when you look at this kind of behavior.

 

Maybe even this game will eventually and inevitably have to turn into the same old routine, that usually makes people like me who still see this as a recreational matter leave for good. But I don't think we're even remotely there yet! And I hope we don't rush things up to reach that point.

 

So please, please, my fellow players, don't turn SWTOR into another one of those mindless grindfests. Thank you.

[tehmoose]

I'm not rushing for the most part, and I'm almost 40. I've done a ton of sidequests and FPs and such too.

 

Leveling in this game is not that hard. I'd be 50 already if I didn't take some time out and level a second character to 30.

 

"Rushing" would have been those that were 50 before Early Access was over.

[Doamy]

-Post content removed- Edited May 6, 2012 by Doamy

[JadenVaska]

To be honest, I'm rushing a little bit to the level cap, but only because there is usually one thing I love to do in MMOs, which is PvP. I like destroying other players underneath my force choke and I want to do it the best. However, I am really enjoying the story and I don't want to ruin it, but the Sith Warrior story is amazing. It is better than I thought really. I don't really like the side quests, but thats because I'm lazy. They are good, I just hate doing menial tasks. I just find myself above common grunt work, but that's because I'm a Sith Lord lol.

[Writer]

To be honest, I'm rushing a little bit to the level cap, but only because there is usually one thing I love to do in MMOs, which is PvP. I like destroying other players underneath my force choke and I want to do it the best. However, I am really enjoying the story and I don't want to ruin it, but the Sith Warrior story is amazing. It is better than I thought really. I don't really like the side quests, but thats because I'm lazy. They are good, I just hate doing menial tasks. I just find myself above common grunt work, but that's because I'm a Sith Lord lol.

 

If you aren't 50 by now, you'll struggle in PVP as lots of players are running round in full PVP gear already and you won't even scratch them without comparible items.

[Cioffaz]

Not rushing at all! I'm doing ALL possible quests...side quest, bonus quest etc etc...this game is huge indeed, and beautiful

 

Enjoy it!

[flipper]

First off, 100 hours (approx) of leveling time is 100 hours whether you do it over the course of a week or a month or 2.

 

Secondly, and far more important there are a few design features which, unfortunately, are counter-productive/intuitive to making the game last longer.

 

1. Story driven gameplay. The very essence of a good story is one you can't even force yourself away from.

 

2. If you want the leveling experience to last longer don't provide companions that can level up your profs without the player needing to take a break from doing quests.

 

3. When you do provide a diversion from questing don't give a massive amount of xp for doing it AS WELL as provide financial reward AND tokens that can be saved to get gear. (space combat)

 

4. Not a design issue but still relevant. Don't release the game just before the vast majority of the playerbase is going to have a week or more of free time.

[Iskevosi]

The Sith Warrior story line is that good...

 

I've been running through this and all the time I have to force myself to stop and do the side quests. Then I move on to the next.

 

But this has forced me to level a little faster than I normally would, but I am enjoying it.

Edited January 13, 2012 by Iskevosi

[Darth-Malice]

During winter vacation took me a week to get level 50 on my main. And that was listening to every quest and doing every side quest.

[Navarium]

I've been playing since day 1 and I'm still only level 29, anyone out there complaining that this game is too short is spewing garbage: SWTOR is not much smaller than vanilla WoW. Unless you plan to reroll as the other faction there simply is no point in rushing. Are there players out there who really dream of grinding boring dailies on a day-to-day basis? That's pretty sad.

[Alundo]

I'm 50 and I didn't rush at all. It honestly doesn't take much to reach cap. I do what I usually do when I'm max anyway, go back and do anything I've missed, fully explore maps that I couldn't before because the enemy mobs might have been elites, go get all datacrons etc.

[Xerda]

Not that I'm saying people have or haven't rushed but not everyone likes the levelling experience. People play in a way that interests them

[GamerInDallas]

You know, for the past couple of days I've been thinking about posting almost this exact same thing! I see I'm not the only one that is totally baffled by the number of people on the RP server (Shien and others) that are just rushing to level 50 as fast as they possibly can. PvP is the only reasonable excuse I've heard for this so far and Shien is a non-PvP server; so why is it on Shien that pretty much EVERYONE is in a mad dash to avoid playing the game and reach max level?

 

I've been playing since Dec 15th and I have not yet seen one single person role playing on Shien (a RP server). But I HAVE seen pretty much everyone rushing to 50th as fast as they can.

 

I don't get it either, but then again my highest level character is 16th after playing almost every day for a month (I've played about 9 characters and most of them are around 13th level. And I've also spent a lot of time on crafting.)

[Hairless]

I don't get it either, but then again my highest level character is 16th after playing almost every day for a month (I've played about 9 characters and most of them are around 13th level. And I've also spent a lot of time on crafting.)

 

LOL 9 characters at level 13.

Sounds like you are afraid of reaching 50.

[CommonKnowledge]

SWTOR is not much smaller than vanilla WoW.

 

It's quite a lot smaller than when WoW was originaly launched. Just getting to 60 back then was an endurance test (especially during the 40-50 stretch) because there was a ton of running around from zone to zone. Star Wars is almost completely linear in that respect which really kills the replay value.

[Navarium]

Yes, perhaps I am mistaken. I do recall spending 6-7 in-game days levelling my warrior to 60. Still, I think the average time to level up a character in SWTOR is 4-5 days which is nothing to be sniffed at.

[flipper]

You know, for the past couple of days I've been thinking about posting almost this exact same thing! I see I'm not the only one that is totally baffled by the number of people on the RP server (Shien and others) that are just rushing to level 50 as fast as they possibly can. PvP is the only reasonable excuse I've heard for this so far and Shien is a non-PvP server; so why is it on Shien that pretty much EVERYONE is in a mad dash to avoid playing the game and reach max level?

 

I've been playing since Dec 15th and I have not yet seen one single person role playing on Shien (a RP server). But I HAVE seen pretty much everyone rushing to 50th as fast as they can.

 

I don't get it either, but then again my highest level character is 16th after playing almost every day for a month (I've played about 9 characters and most of them are around 13th level. And I've also spent a lot of time on crafting.)

 

You have 9 characters, that's why you haven't got to max level. Others, and I'd be inclined to think the vast majority, want to concentrate on a single story, which I'm sure you'd have to admit is a perfectly valid choice. I mean, someone could just as easily start a thread asking why some people are making multiple alts instead of appreciating the story of just one. If the story isn't engaging enough to make you want to see it through before starting another is it really doing it's job?

 

Playing as 1 character, 3 hours a day, will see you get to level 50 or thereabouts if you started at release. That doesn't seem like rushing through to me.

[ScartStorm]

I don't get it either, but then again my highest level character is 16th after playing almost every day for a month (I've played about 9 characters and most of them are around 13th level. And I've also spent a lot of time on crafting.)

 

You must play 20 minutes a day then as it takes about 2-3 hours to hit lvl13.

[GamerInDallas]

You have 9 characters, that's why you haven't got to max level. Others, and I'd be inclined to think the vast majority, want to concentrate on a single story, which I'm sure you'd have to admit is a perfectly valid choice. I mean, someone could just as easily start a thread asking why some people are making multiple alts instead of appreciating the story of just one. If the story isn't engaging enough to make you want to see it through before starting another is it really doing it's job?

 

Playing as 1 character, 3 hours a day, will see you get to level 50 or thereabouts if you started at release. That doesn't seem like rushing through to me.

 

You have a valid point there. Still, I think the majority of players are rushing.

 

Incidently, I have 7 active alts because crafting seems to be so broken that the only way I can get supplies is to supply myself.

[chiselyou]

A couple of questions for the community:

 

I really don't get why people are so determined on reaching the level cap as soon as possible. Where's the fun in that? It's quite obvious that in a game that has just been released there might be very little to do once you reach 50. And indeed, people are already complaining about the lack of endgame content here on the forums. Why do you do that to yourselves and your fellow players?

 

This Game is really huge, content-wise. Of course, you can only enjoy this feature if story and character development are something you're actually interested in. But if you're not, why play this particular game in the first place?

 

It has always been advertised as a story-driven game and that is what Bioware and the whole KOTOR franchise stand for anyway. So why are people treating SWTOR like some kind of e-sports event, as if there were any real benefits from 'crossing the finish line'?

 

I know this is in part due to a fundamental flaw in the MMO - concept, where in the end it has to come down to who has the biggest gun, the most exclusive mount, the shiniest armor and so on. But I have been playing a lot of MMOs and here i thought this is finally one that agrees with my desire to immerse myself in a completely made-up universe, where I don't have to act like an *****#*/= , to outpace my competitors like it so often seems to be in real life these days.

 

I play on a RP-server, by the way. But even there, people are running through flashpoints, screaming 'GOGOGO' and force-leaping into the fray like there was a reward for finishing the thing faster than anyone before. Nobody talks about anything, or waits a few second for a straggler, or for someones force/energy/ammo bars to refill. And once it's over you barely have time to say 'thanks' or even 'good bye' before the group dissipates into infinite space.

 

I used to play RIFT before this one, and I really liked the story and a lot of other things. What struck me as very odd was the fact that you could sometimes be in a raid with a hundred other players, and beat up some giant invading the countryside and not read a single line of communication in the chat window. It was actually quite easy to find a group or even a raid just by running in to a certain area. But nobody seemed to care about each other. Sadly, a certain other MMO (whose name I will not mention here, because it already is all over the place) comes to mind, when you look at this kind of behavior.

 

Maybe even this game will eventually and inevitably have to turn into the same old routine, that usually makes people like me who still see this as a recreational matter leave for good. But I don't think we're even remotely there yet! And I hope we don't rush things up to reach that point.

 

So please, please, my fellow players, don't turn SWTOR into another one of those mindless grindfests. Thank you.

 

 

Why? Cuz there is nothing to do @ the end? Sad :/ Not really an MMO style.

[GamerInDallas]

You must play 20 minutes a day then as it takes about 2-3 hours to hit lvl13.

 

Now that the holidays are over thats about right, but I played 8 hours a day every day for about two weeks solid during the holidays.

 

And it takes approximately 14 hours to reach level 13 if you do all the side quests getting there. I should know. I've done it a lot of times.

[chiselyou]

Not that I'm saying people have or haven't rushed but not everyone likes the levelling experience. People play in a way that interests them

 

^^ I approve of this message, end content needs to be there! Aswell as correct balancing, not only I feel like this game is 1 year premature, now I have doubled my thoughts, 2 years premature.

[lokivoid]

A couple of questions for the community:

 

I really don't get why people are so determined on reaching the level cap as soon as possible. Where's the fun in that? It's quite obvious that in a game that has just been released there might be very little to do once you reach 50. And indeed, people are already complaining about the lack of endgame content here on the forums. Why do you do that to yourselves and your fellow players?

 

This Game is really huge, content-wise. Of course, you can only enjoy this feature if story and character development are something you're actually interested in. But if you're not, why play this particular game in the first place?

 

It has always been advertised as a story-driven game and that is what Bioware and the whole KOTOR franchise stand for anyway. So why are people treating SWTOR like some kind of e-sports event, as if there were any real benefits from 'crossing the finish line'?

 

I know this is in part due to a fundamental flaw in the MMO - concept, where in the end it has to come down to who has the biggest gun, the most exclusive mount, the shiniest armor and so on. But I have been playing a lot of MMOs and here i thought this is finally one that agrees with my desire to immerse myself in a completely made-up universe, where I don't have to act like an *****#*/= , to outpace my competitors like it so often seems to be in real life these days.

 

I play on a RP-server, by the way. But even there, people are running through flashpoints, screaming 'GOGOGO' and force-leaping into the fray like there was a reward for finishing the thing faster than anyone before. Nobody talks about anything, or waits a few second for a straggler, or for someones force/energy/ammo bars to refill. And once it's over you barely have time to say 'thanks' or even 'good bye' before the group dissipates into infinite space.

 

I used to play RIFT before this one, and I really liked the story and a lot of other things. What struck me as very odd was the fact that you could sometimes be in a raid with a hundred other players, and beat up some giant invading the countryside and not read a single line of communication in the chat window. It was actually quite easy to find a group or even a raid just by running in to a certain area. But nobody seemed to care about each other. Sadly, a certain other MMO (whose name I will not mention here, because it already is all over the place) comes to mind, when you look at this kind of behavior.

 

Maybe even this game will eventually and inevitably have to turn into the same old routine, that usually makes people like me who still see this as a recreational matter leave for good. But I don't think we're even remotely there yet! And I hope we don't rush things up to reach that point.

 

So please, please, my fellow players, don't turn SWTOR into another one of those mindless grindfests. Thank you.

 

 

Becuse if the end game in a mmo is everything, unless your playing a korean grindfest or just a stright up sterotypical "casual". Then you will in the long run spend the majority of your time in the end game. the low to mid range is just filler to buffer character progression. The "story" functions has little more than a single player game, most MMO players will could careless, even more so after being subjected to it for a day or two.

[Karson]

The OP's post is exaclty how I feel.

 

I've hardly understand why people in a virtual game are so competitive.

I mean, this is a game I play to take a break from real life. Why would I act in a game as I act in real life? and everyone knows that real life is all about competition.

 

Actually, the "I have killed more mobs than you", or "I have the best looking mount" or "I have the most powerful set of armor or weapon" just appears childish from my point of view. Of course, many kids play thoses games but many adult play it too and some act like children.

 

I play a game to have fun not to prove something pointless to other players.

 

Since I intend to play though all classes stories, I take my time, having 5 characters right now. I'll have more in the future. None of my characters is level 50 at the moment, my highest being 36.

[Rinkitink]

I've been playing since day 1 and I'm still only level 29, anyone out there complaining that this game is too short is spewing garbage: SWTOR is not much smaller than vanilla WoW. Unless you plan to reroll as the other faction there simply is no point in rushing. Are there players out there who really dream of grinding boring dailies on a day-to-day basis? That's pretty sad.

 

That's just plain slow. :-P