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Quarterly Producer Letter for Q2 2024 ×

Orbital Stations Must Die!


Seabrook

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Every planet has either a space port or an orbital station. If you were to time yourself, you'd find it takes about the same amount of time to progress through a space port as an orbital station and emerge "in the world".

 

It makes sense which planets have which. What doesn't make sense, is we can't use our speeders in either. We can on the fleet, but we can't in a space port? Allow for speeders in space ports/orbital docks, and I'd be quite happy.

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absolutely no reason for orbital stations and airlocks. they need to go. why do I even need to take an elevator to my ship? why can't it just be in a room behind the green barrier?

 

this ^ or clicking on elevator zones you into the ship. no need for the hangars. i dont need to see the outside of the ship everytime

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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.

 

IMO, orbital stations are some kind of a band-aid solution Bioware implemented because they didn't have time to put ship-hangars on several of the later worlds before they were rushing the game out the door. So they had one orbital station already made, and they just duplicated it as the entry-point for all the worlds they hadn't finished yet.

 

That has to be the answer because there's NO WAY anyone with a brain thought forcing you to go through additional, totally unnecessary loading screens between worlds was a good idea. Right?

 

On the other hand, this is the same developer that apparently thought giving us "speeders" that move slower than bicycles was a good idea...

Edited by Mannic
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What doesn't make sense, is we can't use our speeders in either. We can on the fleet, but we can't in a space port? Allow for speeders in space ports/orbital docks, and I'd be quite happy.

 

Me too, if there's some specific reason why we must have these things, at least let us mount through them. Thank you.

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I don't mind them that much.

 

They also have some story events happening on the stations and NPC introducing you and directing you towards your next quest objectives. They're only annoying when you reach level 50 and only move from planet to planet to do stuff.

 

It's really not that bad. At least I don't have to wait on a *********** zeppelin.

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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.

 

A) they are not at each planet.

 

B) no, I'm fine with them. They add to the atmosphere and immersion of the game (I don't expect the instant gratification crowd to comprehend this however).

 

C) "must die" is extreme and inappropriate IMO.

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I don't mind them that much.

 

They also have some story events happening on the stations and NPC introducing you and directing you towards your next quest objectives. They're only annoying when you reach level 50 and only move from planet to planet to do stuff.

 

It's really not that bad. At least I don't have to wait on a *********** zeppelin.

 

Thing is, those NPC's could just as easily be in a spaceport on the planet itself. The "but they provide some story content" argument just doesn't hold water.

Edited by Mannic
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A) they are not at each planet.

 

B) no, I'm fine with them. They add to the atmosphere and immersion of the game (I don't expect the instant gratification crowd to comprehend this however).

 

C) "must die" is extreme and inappropriate IMO.

 

Not wanting to run around pointlessly and load from section to section has absolutely nothing to do with instant gratification. But way to try and insult a whole section of gamers who find pointless time-sinks stupid.

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the main issue, is that often, I don't bother going to do something on X planet simply because I can't be bothered. it takes too much effort. I wanna go quickly grab a datacron on X planet but since it'll take me about 15 minutes going through loading screens I just don't care anymore and stay in the fleet spinning my speeder around Edited by SunwindIon
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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.

 

Here is my theory about orbital stations - with the understanding I may be wrong.

 

Im guessing that the point of orbital stations is to allow greater development on these planets with future expansions/patches. If you look at the design of the stations, it would be easy to incorporate multiple dropships to different landing zones on the planet. So, when we see lvl 60+ zones on Tatooine, we wont have to go to the current zone and take the taxi. We will, instead, just take a different landing vessel from the spaceport.

 

Of course, this is just speculation, but it makes sense to me.

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Not wanting to run around pointlessly and load from section to section has absolutely nothing to do with instant gratification. But way to try and insult a whole section of gamers who find pointless time-sinks stupid.

 

I would rather hop a taxi that takes 20 minutes to travel to where I want to go, like in LoTRO, than spend 10 minutes travelling with TOR's method. Why? Because in LoTRO I can hop a taxi and go AFK for 15 or 20 minutes. In TOR, I have to be there the whole time, actively clicking, clicking, clicking on switches. So TOR is the one game that literally forces you to experience every second of their travel tedium. That makes it far more annoying than the travel tedium even in games where travel takes much longer.

 

Not to mention that in LoTRO or WoW or other MMO's, at least there's something to look at while you're travelling. Much of TOR's travel takes place inside space stations or your own ship. It would be like in LoTRO if rather than just taking a taxi and clicking where you want to go, you had to take a taxi first to a waypoint, then dismount the taxi and run somewhere, then grab another taxi that takes you to your house, then from your house switch to another world, then leave your house and run to another taxi that takes you to another waypoint where you have to grab another taxi to take you to your final destination.

Edited by Mannic
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Here is my theory about orbital stations - with the understanding I may be wrong.

 

Im guessing that the point of orbital stations is to allow greater development on these planets with future expansions/patches. If you look at the design of the stations, it would be easy to incorporate multiple dropships to different landing zones on the planet. So, when we see lvl 60+ zones on Tatooine, we wont have to go to the current zone and take the taxi. We will, instead, just take a different landing vessel from the spaceport.

 

Of course, this is just speculation, but it makes sense to me.

 

 

This would make sense if both factions were using orbital stations on the same planets.

 

I don't believe that's the case though. For example, Imps go directly to a spaceport on Tatooine and, from what I understand, Reps use an orbital station.

 

Good theory though.

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I would rather hop a taxi that takes 20 minutes to travel to where I want to go, like in LoTRO, than spend 10 minutes travelling with TOR's method. Why? Because in LoTRO I can hop a taxi and go AFK for 15 or 20 minutes. In TOR, I have to be there the whole time, actively clicking, clicking, clicking on switches. So TOR is the one game that literally forces you to experience every second of their travel tedium. That makes it far more annoying than the travel tedium even in games where travel takes much longer.

 

Not to mention that in LoTRO or WoW or other MMO's, at least there's something to look at while you're travelling. Much of TOR's travel takes place inside space stations or your own ship. It would be like in LoTRO if rather than just taking a taxi and clicking where you want to go, you had to take a taxi first to a waypoint, then dismount the taxi and run somewhere, then grab another taxi that takes you to your house, then from your house switch to another world, then leave your house and run to another taxi that takes you to another waypoint where you have to grab another taxi to take you to your final destination.

 

Know what is funny, is that people will think that you get to get up and do something afk is being lazy. Like in order to properly play you have to have your butt glued to your chair for hours.

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Other than liars and the hardest of hardcore masochist who enjoys bamboo shards under his fingernails to relax...most people are pretty sick of the stations/shuttle/airlock/hanger/elevator.../wrist.

 

I know I am. Just let me land on the planet! Nobody in the movies had to dock at an orbital station and then take a shuttle to the planet.

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This would make sense if both factions were using orbital stations on the same planets.

 

I don't believe that's the case though. For example, Imps go directly to a spaceport on Tatooine and, from what I understand, Reps use an orbital station.

 

Good theory though.

 

It's more likely (when you think about it) that the primary technical reason they exist in the game is because Bioware didn't have enough time to put the "take off" / landing cut scenes in for each ship for each planet. You'll notice that you never actually see a "take off" / landing type cut scene for the orbital stations. You just see the usual "approaching planet" awful looking cut scene.

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