Why do many MMO players not appreciate the story?

[zudzud]

I actually love the story and not having to read endless of quest text, but in some way I wish that Bioware would've had the balls to go a bit further with the story focus since I feel that as I level up (I'm fairly new to the game) I get less and less of class story and more and more of an mediocre MMO.

[Sithmud]

As opposed to what?! I've soloed SWG, WoW and LOTRO, and Lotro had an epic quest story line. I've grouped and joined guilds too but you don't have to in alot of mmos, seriously learn about the genre before posting such nonsense, like Maybe playing another mmo or two

 

No I think your wrong IMO anyway Thekze was pretty close to right , this really is a single player game , with options thats all.

And I have played plenty of mmo's thanks.

[Megaphys]

the biggest problem with the story is that its written from a single player perspective, every character is meant to be the most powerful guy in the galaxy, this works in ME/dragon age because they are single player. This requires a huge suspension of disbelief for players to get into a story while knowing that thousands of others are doing the same thing in the dame world. This also forces every quest to be written as a huge disaster that only you can save or the empire/republic is doomed. It's cool the first couple times, but by 50 its gets old hearing about the 300th squad that was killed by X elite bad guys that are doing something to doom the empire/republic and you must complete this mission or everyone is doomed. It creates a constant high story with little contrast between quests.

 

Actually, i disagree, every charachter is powerful, however, keep in mind that this game has a stage of a galaxy with multiple planets, the idea that there is what, 1500 powerful people across a whole galaxy is actually a really small number. Also when you consider each charachter is dealing with a different facet of the whole picture. Its a huge war, many things are happening all the time. All 16 plotlines are occuring in the same time frame, and they all fit in with each other without bumping heads (aside from the side stuff that eevry chr can do)

 

As to the story being good, its going to vary from storyline to storyline, and also different people will find different things interesting. Also its not meant to be the ultimate storytelling experience that rivals the classics of literature. Its actually meant to be pulp, and thats fine because thats what it is. Now while a more interesting deeper story with great charachter motivations and what not is a nice idea, it doesnt fit into the make your own role world. Such world will always be limited by the idea that a person is going to make their own choices.

 

Different people want different things, honestly, i see the complaints, but really overall i approve of the direction, where your whole entire leveling experience has content, and overall the progression is natural.

 

 

As for the people who prefer a less involved leveling process, they actually took care of that, you can level from 1-50 fairly fast just doing dailies, heroics, flashpoints and pvp. You really never have to do a side story after the first planet. just because quests are there doesnt mean you have to do them.

 

Another path is to do all the side stuff on a planet on one charchater and skip it on the other. For example i have only done most of taris on one charachter. On another did full taris, and skipped nar shadaa except for class quests.

 

The game has options, and spacebar exists as well.

[EternalFinality]

I think you mean the difference between narrative vs. story.

 

The new Deus Ex is a great example of narrative, SWTOR is another one.

 

Not true - Planescape Torment has both great narrative AND a great story. Same with Deus Ex.

 

Look, books are different from games which are different from movies. There are different stories you can present in different ways simply due to the abilities of each medium.

 

Saying "go read a book if you want a good story" is idiocy. Games can have great stories too. And there's plenty of terrible books out there. One medium is not inherently better than another.

 

Looking for a great story in an *MMO* is where things get sketchy.

Edited January 29, 2012 by EternalFinality

[acheros]

No I think your wrong IMO anyway Thekze was pretty close to right , this really is a single player game , with options thats all.

And I have played plenty of mmo's thanks.

 

every MMO i've ever played COULD BE solo'd until end game. save for everquest. Final fantasy and everquest are the only two that come to mind that require group content while leveling.

[Rohke]

Story is why I also bought TOR. However I realised a massive issue after the first month. Bioware and myself clearly overlooked this design flaw and it mostly concerns the voice overs and dialogue options.

 

In my opinion this design actualy makes the game less mmo cause mmo is all about creating the character you want to be and do what you want right? Story actualy makes your character not your own but biowares vision.

 

This works for single player games like mass effect cause shepherd is shepherd.

 

So I ended up turning the most exciting feature i was looking forward to into a rather game breaking one.

 

I really struggle to log in now to do the story but pvp is still fun but we desperately need a new warzone or something.

[Sithmud]

Oh yeah , and no its not that most of the players are too dumb to enjoy the story, its just that they are saddened to lose the MMO part for the story part.

It is a cool story , I will admit that , but I want a MMO not a singleplayer story(for 15 a month anyway).

[chakkar]

Actually, i disagree, every charachter is powerful, however, keep in mind that this game has a stage of a galaxy with multiple planets, the idea that there is what, 1500 powerful people across a whole galaxy is actually a really small number. Also when you consider each charachter is dealing with a different facet of the whole picture. Its a huge war, many things are happening all the time. All 16 plotlines are occuring in the same time frame, and they all fit in with each other without bumping heads (aside from the side stuff that eevry chr can do)

 

As to the story being good, its going to vary from storyline to storyline, and also different people will find different things interesting. Also its not meant to be the ultimate storytelling experience that rivals the classics of literature. Its actually meant to be pulp, and thats fine because thats what it is. Now while a more interesting deeper story with great charachter motivations and what not is a nice idea, it doesnt fit into the make your own role world. Such world will always be limited by the idea that a person is going to make their own choices.

 

Different people want different things, honestly, i see the complaints, but really overall i approve of the direction, where your whole entire leveling experience has content, and overall the progression is natural.

 

 

As for the people who prefer a less involved leveling process, they actually took care of that, you can level from 1-50 fairly fast just doing dailies, heroics, flashpoints and pvp. You really never have to do a side story after the first planet. just because quests are there doesnt mean you have to do them.

 

Another path is to do all the side stuff on a planet on one charchater and skip it on the other. For example i have only done most of taris on one charachter. On another did full taris, and skipped nar shadaa except for class quests.

 

The game has options, and spacebar exists as well.

 

very well said. Yeah, people complain about side quests, but they do not really need to do them. You can level up easy with WZ and Flashpoints and heroics.

[acheros]

Oh yeah , and no its not that most of the players are too dumb to enjoy the story, its just that they are saddened to lose the MMO part for the story part.

It is a cool story , I will admit that , but I want a MMO not a singleplayer story(for 15 a month anyway).

 

You know you CAN level as a group, right? In fact most encourage it...In FACT! i've seen plenty of people looking for partners to level WITH!.

 

You're PURPOSELY playing it solo, then complaining that its soloable? Get a guild, find more people to level with, thats all you have to do. This game isn't any less "MMO" then WoW, or rift, or aion, or city of heroes/villains, or champions online, or warhammer, or DCU online.

[Menisong]

REALLY? Thanks for telling me!

 

 

I can guarantee that most of these "dissatisfied" gamers will still be subbed 6 months from now.

 

You keep saying silly things like this. I haven't seen one dissatisfied gamer, I have seen a lot of players dissatisfied with the story...very very different.

 

I can only imagine how upset you are with this game when you realized your story ended at 50 and that you have to wait for an expansion for a new class story. If you believe story is the 4th pillar, you must truly be dissappointed with this.

[Kentiah]

You keep saying silly things like this. I haven't seen one dissatisfied gamer... etc.

 

Not sure what you mean by this. I am a gamer. I am dissatisfied.

[Grimravenlord]

Story is why I also bought TOR. However I realised a massive issue after the first month. Bioware and myself clearly overlooked this design flaw and it mostly concerns the voice overs and dialogue options.

 

In my opinion this design actualy makes the game less mmo cause mmo is all about creating the character you want to be and do what you want right? Story actualy makes your character not your own but biowares vision.

 

This works for single player games like mass effect cause shepherd is shepherd.

 

So I ended up turning the most exciting feature i was looking forward to into a rather game breaking one.

 

I really struggle to log in now to do the story but pvp is still fun but we desperately need a new warzone or something.

 

This need to be quoted for justice! 100% spot on.

[Patsboem]

A large percentage here on the forums hate on the game and state that they don't give a crasp about the great story Bioware has put into the game. These are probably the same type of people who would play Modern Warfare, but feel they're a more sophisticated gamer, so they play MMO's....then constantly complain about them.

 

IMO, story is what sets this game apart. Ive only played bounty hunter so far and love the story and look forward to playing every class.

 

I am one of the criticasters of the game: but i like the story!

 

In fact i am a Bioware-fan. Just have to be vocal a few days becouse i stop paying and unsubed few days ago. It is like suddenly my rl relationship crushed. It is a bit painful and what better to share it with ppl that go to the same process. Aside that, if BW is able to tackle some major problems in the near future, i am willing to come back.

[Menisong]

Not sure what you mean by this. I am a gamer. I am dissatisfied.

 

Most players in thris trread are not complaining about the game systems, mechanics, liking or disliking the game..they are talking about the shallow story.

[Kentiah]

Most players in thris trread are not complaining about the game systems, mechanics, liking or disliking the game..they are talking about the shallow story.

 

But I'm dissatisfied with the story and most of the rest you're talking about. The engine, some of the mechanics (namely rng loot system). I'm willing to stick it out another month in hopes they fix things, but I'm probably done after that if Ilum is still another edition of "Powerpoint Presentation: Ilum".

 

Edit: By RNG loot system I'm talking about the bags, I'm perfectly fine with PvE rng off instances/raids because they at least always drop something. In the PvE gear system I find the bags actually a plus of sorts, since it's sort of an extra shot at gear. The PvP one just seems so absurd.

Edited January 29, 2012 by Kentiah

[Mekrath]

You keep saying silly things like this. I haven't seen one dissatisfied gamer, I have seen a lot of players dissatisfied with the story...very very different.

 

I can only imagine how upset you are with this game when you realized your story ended at 50 and that you have to wait for an expansion for a new class story. If you believe story is the 4th pillar, you must truly be dissappointed with this.

 

I'm dissatisfied overall. I unsubbed this morning. I hope in the future Bioware can lure me back.

[Kraith]

Yeah, so you write the words Players and Dumb in your topic title, really makes me feel like reading your ****

 

Well, here you are responding, so his advertising must have worked.....

[knightblaster]

 

Looking for a great story in an *MMO* is where things get sketchy.

 

That's pretty much the issue, I think. It doesn't mesh that well with an MMO, and with what people are generally looking for in an MMO.

[EternalFinality]

You know you CAN level as a group, right? In fact most encourage it...In FACT! i've seen plenty of people looking for partners to level WITH!.

 

You're PURPOSELY playing it solo, then complaining that its soloable? Get a guild, find more people to level with, thats all you have to do. This game isn't any less "MMO" then WoW, or rift, or aion, or city of heroes/villains, or champions online, or warhammer, or DCU online.

 

Game is tuned for a single player. You do the entire game in a group and it is not a challenge. At ALL.

[Mannic]

Story is why I also bought TOR. However I realised a massive issue after the first month. Bioware and myself clearly overlooked this design flaw and it mostly concerns the voice overs and dialogue options.

 

In my opinion this design actualy makes the game less mmo cause mmo is all about creating the character you want to be and do what you want right? Story actualy makes your character not your own but biowares vision.

 

This works for single player games like mass effect cause shepherd is shepherd.

 

So I ended up turning the most exciting feature i was looking forward to into a rather game breaking one.

 

I really struggle to log in now to do the story but pvp is still fun but we desperately need a new warzone or something.

 

This is why I think there needs to be a new category that is used to describe this type of game, something other than RPG. "Interactive Adventure" would be pretty accurate. It's more than an interactive movie, but not quite an RPG. Interactive adventure could pretty well sum up every Bioware game to date.

[acheros]

Game is tuned for a single player. You do the entire game in a group and it is not a challenge. At ALL.

 

Let me try to say this slowly so you understand..

 

NO MODERN MMO IS GEARED TO BE LEVELED AS A GROUP OUTSIDE OF FLASHPOINTS/DUNGEONS

Edited January 29, 2012 by acheros

[kufa]

Lets say that the story is 40 hours. Why should I continue subscribing after that? See the flaw here? There needs to be endgame but at the moment it is not working very well.

 

"But you can play all characters to get more out of the game!" Sure, but why would I want to do 80% identical content on several characters?

[ryathal]

I believe he forgets about it and spends the rest of his life in his own head. That's why he doesn't bother to look. He stops caring about what's real.

 

the whole movie is a dream after they meet the chemist, he asks to try out his drugs and never checks to see if he woke up.

[TheInterficio]

This reminded me of the whole "Why Obama critics are so dumb" article. But in all seriousness, this is ridiculous. I love Swtor, because of the story. It is fine that others do not. I understand where some people are coming from- some people honestly prefer mechanics, and others prefer higher visual quality.

 

The problem people have found, is it is lacking in some other crucial aspects which occur within games.

 

Besides, people play single player roleplaying games for story, and even then we expect a certain amount of other components.

 

Though for the record, other then the game feeling a bit clunky on skill activate, I think the game plays pretty well.

[ryathal]

very well said. Yeah, people complain about side quests, but they do not really need to do them. You can level up easy with WZ and Flashpoints and heroics.

 

but this avoids the "wonderful" story BW is selling, I should want to do side quests, not actively avoid them.