Zor-kai Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Is anybody else put out by these orbital stations we have to go through on each planet? I mean really it's just an extra step that needs to go. I have a ship and I should be able to land on the planet. It wouldn't be so bad if there were quest you could pick up on the stations, like bonus quest but there are none... Except for Belsavis and that's just a step for your dailies and then never again. They either need to do something with them or just remove them. Why you have to go through 3-4 loading screens (each being about 1min-1.5min cause this game loads slow even on high end computers) Just to get onto a planet is garbage. They have to remember that people are not just canceling their sub's due to bug's and broken system but also a lot of what's in the game just a big annoyance factor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archifikoss Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Is anybody else put out by these orbital stations we have to go through on each planet? I mean really it's just an extra step that needs to go. I have a ship and I should be able to land on the planet. Whilst I don't really mind the walk, yeah they are redundant. In fact I think that the space stations need a redesign in general... Instead of walking into the station, taking all those turns, going to the hangar etc, why don't they simplify it? After the big main entrance you walk into the "terminal" (containing customs, space item vendor etc like now), from there you go down different paths depending on your class (could be the equivalent of those mobile tunnel thingies in RL airports, I've gone blank on the term) and simply click on the airlock of your ship. No elevators or orbital stations... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sonickat Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 What I don't quite understand is why the orbital stations exist. Why can't the entering the shuttle transition you to immediately outside your ship. The same thing for the elevators at the space docks. The whole black screen already is an immersion breaker lets just be efficient in travel and go where we're clearly going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunsoar Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 I miss the days in beta when the space stations didnt exist. Just another reason to never visit a planet once you complete it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enkhrypthor Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 What's up with all the hurry?? you guys cant enjoy the details of the game? the transition between the planet > orbital > your ship is less than 2 minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NattyBohMan Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 What's up with all the hurry?? you guys cant enjoy the details of the game? the transition between the planet > orbital > your ship is less than 2 minutes. Have you seen the size of the thread? The amount of time is not the main issue, it's that it's a total waste of time. Why have everyone jump through boring hoops just to get to the fun? The orbital stations are like long loading screens but worse. Actually, I'd prefer a two minute loading screen (also I really doubt it's less than 2 minutes) At least you can go get a drink or take a bio-break during loading screens. Orbital stations remind me of the game "Desert Bus". Google it if you want to hear about a game so boring that they play marathons of it for charity events now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-Seven Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 Down with orbital stations and superfluous use of loading screens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zachajariah Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 Excuse me. Not every single planet but most seem to have them. They are still a useless extra step. Lol, they take a minute to pass through. Some people enjoy immersion and the game following the lore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bielduwyn Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 (edited) I think you guys are underestimating just what getting rid of the orbital stations would entail. =p They'd have to remodel part of the planet to put down a spaceport where there currently isn't one. And since you're all lazy and/or in a hurry and don't want any transition screens they'd also have to be Coruscant styled spaceports where you can just run straight from your ship into the larger world, which would take up even more space than the elevator spaceports that take you to an instance of your hangar. And once that's done, well, we'll have to redownload the entire planet since the "level" has been changed, resulting in a patch sized several gigabytes containing planets we've already seen. So honestly, is it really worth that much to you that you want to occupy the time of the world builders to try and jam a spaceport onto Korriban and all the other planets that don't have one when they could be making all new planets? (Not to mention, given the nature of planets like Tython, a spaceport there would make no sense at all) Edited February 18, 2012 by Bielduwyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mestrahd Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 (edited) Most planets DON'T have them. And I don't know what your issue with them is. They don't cause any additional loading screens. If anything, they make the world seem more real. Once you are on the station, you are for all purposes on the planet. Taking the shuttle is no different than taking an elevator. Most planets don't have them? I can think of Dromund Kaas, Nar Shadaa, Balmorra, Alderaan and Correllia for Empire. That means Taris, Quesh, Ilum, Belsavis, Hoth, Korriban, Hutta all have them. 5 planets out of 12 (and I'm probably forgetting one) is not most. Edited for Alderaan. Edited February 18, 2012 by Mestrahd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sknn Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 \signed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizardSF Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 (Not to mention, given the nature of planets like Tython, a spaceport there would make no sense at all) The lore issue is easy: When you click the exit door of your ship, instead of an animation showing your ship landing, you have an animation of a shuttle departing your ship and heading to the planet. Or of your ship docking at a station, then a shuttle leaving the station and heading to the planet. (I mean, somehow, we accept that when we take the emergency fleet pass, someone pilots our ship to the fleet hanger for us. Who? The annoying droid?) (In a perfect game, you'd have something like EVE, where your ships stay in whatever hanger you left them in, and if you want to get to them, you need to fly another ship there, exit it, then enter your other ship, leaving the ship you flew there in behind.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anysao Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 I think its mainly just to devide up the republic and imperial landing.Other then that, I think it could be forgotten. But maybe just keep them for starter planets, or Ilum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bielduwyn Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 (I mean, somehow, we accept that when we take the emergency fleet pass, someone pilots our ship to the fleet hanger for us. Who? The annoying droid?) Why not? 2V already mentions cleaning sublight drives, and being capable of painting entire rooms and polishing the entire ship. Flying the ship should be no problem. Plus, y'know, after a while you have several companions, at least one of the companions you leave behind should be able to do the relatively easy task of getting the ship out of the hangar and punching in a few hyperspace coordinates and letting the navicomputer handle the rest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aythful Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Less loading is always better. Much of these are indeed a useless step in the process from the player's pov, while I'm always a fan of making the world and our interaction more realistic, when tons of loading screens are in the way, I can understand the frustrations of the community. Personally, they don't bother me much, a small inconvenience and I much rather have other things sorted out first but I would definitely put it on the list since much of the community seems unhappy with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WiltenRose Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Here are the positive sides to Orbital Stations: 1. Logically, a planet not metropolitan enough to have a space-port cannot be accessed directly from your ship, ergo Orbital Station. It also doesn't give away the ghost on your starting planet that you are getting your own ship. 2. Some visual set-up in terms of seeing the holo-version of the planet, wall hangings, etc. 3. Stims vendor 4. Some Mission givers The big negative? ... A minute or two of walking and loading screens. Compared to planets with space-ports? ... There's about as much walking to get out into the city. Now I'm in agreement with most of the other posters here that I would like to have the time from exiting my ship to being out in the town cut down, but these are the facts. I get just as frustrated being forced to run all the way from my ship to the exit of the space-port on Corussant as I ever have been running through an Orbital Station. Really, I think the solution is simple. Lift the restriction of using speeders in Orbital Stations and Space-ports. Do that, and a lot of the head-ache goes away. For bonus points, ditch Orbital Stations completely and move all quest givers to the shuttle landing pad on the surface. I wouldn't care if the animations remained the same. Have the ship flying toward the planet...loading screen...on the ground beside the shuttle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noodlehaus Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 (edited) +1 orbital stations are a big f*ck*n waste of time. remove all: airlocks orbital stations hangar add: quick travel point to you f*ck*n ship i know that some quests are actually started within orbital stations. move them elsewhere. whoever in BW thought that going through 4 one-minute-long load screens just to travel from planet to planet should be slapped in the face first thing in the morning, everyday. Edited March 7, 2012 by noodlehaus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oohla Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 I was redirected to this depressing excuse for a thread, from my attempt at making people realise the joy they can get out of this game when they realise that orbital stations are made of win! Now I'm sad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timmygo Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 One load screen per planet would work. Even if they decided to leave the space docks there, it should be part of the planets loading. You go to a planet(the game loads everything on that planet) and you move on. At least thats how it should be. The long walk down the space station hallway wouldnt be so bad if there wasnt a load screen afterwards. If i want to help a guildie with a world boss or whatever it takes me nearly 30 minutes to get to him/her. On the fleet it should work the same way. Load your characters ship at the same time you load the fleet station. The only difference would be the loading of flashpoints. But when it comes to those load everything at once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord_Ravenhurst Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 (edited) Orbital stations are not bad, the bad thing is static loading screens and black screens instead of cool transitional rendered cutscenes, also that you can not do anything useful on these stations. There should be special locations you can reach via the orbital stations. Put some story on, or special shops, a repair dock, a shop to buy or modify ships, a camera mode to spy on the planet surface, a cantina social hub where you can sit, have a drink and chat, and make it landable as soons as spaceflight freeroaming is implemented. Also, these stations would be a great hub for starting space based missions, trading requests, go shoot pirates, defend the stations or investigate an ancient race deep in a mysterious part of the universe. Check out Freelancer or Privateer, a lot of stuff happened on stations. by the way, forget the loading screens, who would want to see these? Better give us the impression of travelling with cool cutscenes or a schematic view of some map screen. Edited March 7, 2012 by Lord_Ravenhurst Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sapphix Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 (edited) Yeah, people are really freaking out about orbital stations but I don't think they understand that they are only a place holder at the moment. They can add some nice features on these stations such as; quick travel to and from planet (instead of going through the space port), multiple non-connected locations on planet, space combat and flight around planet... they could easily expand into a hub for a multitude of activities on the planet. I understand the frustration but try to have a little patience and foresight. Edited March 7, 2012 by Sapphix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baelish Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 I think the reason the station exists is to be a safe guard for players on pvp severs so they can get to there ships and not get ganked. They only seem, as far i recall, to be on plants that both side can fight each other. I don't think this can be the full rationale. Balmorra, Repside, for example, has the Shuttle land in an area that requires Taxi access. Would make no difference if there was a spaceport there, the Impies couldn't get to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord_Ravenhurst Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 I understand the frustration but try to have a little patience and foresight. Absolutely! I just had another idea about a fun activity, imagine you can enter an orbital shuttle with some friends, you take a seat, then the shuttle departs, you have big windows to look out of it while you walk around on the shuttle or keep seated. Then, a guided tour of the planet with some weird alien host tells you historic infos and infos about Points of interest while flying over the planets surface for several minutes. At the end - you get thanks for attending the tour, earn some XP and you get out on the planets surface. THAT would be awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ascertes Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 @ Above: Agreed! Hopefully that would be optional because then they would jusrt complain about that too. Anyways back to topic. Do I like Orbital Stations? Yes Do I think they are nessecary/part of lore? Yes Do I like the running from the ship to the shuttle and all the loading screens inbetween? No Could there be changes made that allow them to have more purpose and make them less of a nuisance? Yes. Instead of scrapping the things, just make changes to them to make them a little more enjoyable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enriquezarmy Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 I agree with the OP. There is no reason for this cant we just go to the planet and "pretend" that we went through an orbital space station i mean really why the waste of time when this game is already insanely long to level up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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