BioWare+Mythic: A SWTOR review

[demonolithic]

Considering there was no rollback of valor for those that clearly beefed their's through this mass kill trading makes me wonder if they even have a way to track it to begin with yet. So many things weren't released with the game or released in such a "poo" state that it's clearly obvious they where pushed to release it to early. I really think that the needed metrics and tracking either aren't there for everything in game or is in such a poor state of coding that they really have no idea what to do about it.

 

edit. Thanks for the post OP. Very well written and presented with knowledge and not complete bias. I'm there with you in hopes this can all get fixed. Kudos.

Edited February 5, 2012 by demonolithic

[Deewe]

** SWTOR blind praise**

Please no offense but reading your post I was wondering whether you are a dev or never ever played any other AAA MMO.

 

It's fine to defend a game you enjoy, but everything that was stated by the OP, in a constructive way, is true. Well, IMHO the story isn't that great and maybe he focused a bit too much on one of the most broken game play: world PvP.

 

And I dare saying, don't fool yourself the designers know the game has issues. At least the good ones.

[mufutiz]

very accurate and good review. good read.

[Edgecase]

Added an update to the bottom of the original post to reflect the screenshot of a GM allegedly endorsing kill trading, and comment on BioWare's lack of response.

 

On a separate note, it has been suggested that the "corruption" of the valor system through large point imbalances is largely inconsequential, as the "real" competitive PvP system is still forthcoming. While this could very well be the case, I can't help but think that BioWare talking about the golden future of PvP right now feels sort of like the fire department bragging about the beautiful new firehouse they'll build over the site of the old one as it burns down around them.

[Muckbeast]

Good post, OP.

[mufutiz]

Added an update to the bottom of the original post to reflect the screenshot of a GM allegedly endorsing kill trading, and comment on BioWare's lack of response.

 

I have no doubts this is the official stance even if that picture turned out to be fake. Action or lack thereof speak louder than words.

[Senatsu]

Can someone please explain to me why people ***** so much about the GTN interface? It does everything I need it to do and more, I can't see any faults with it.

 

If your basing your "thoughts" for SWTOR's future on preliminary test server patch notes for a patch that might not be released for nearly 2 months, I feel very sad for you. There might be tons of stuff that BioWare is putting in, they just don't want to put it on the test server yet because they want to do some more in-house testing before letting the public try it out.

[Dantragk]

What is sad is that Square Enix is doing more to fix their failed Final Fantasy XIV than Bioware is doing to fix their Failed Star Wars: TOR.

[djsmileey]

What is sad is that Square Enix is doing more to fix their failed Final Fantasy XIV than Bioware is doing to fix their Failed Star Wars: TOR.

 

What a load of crap.

 

I played FFXIV, that game was a REAL failure at launch, not like people would have you believe about SWTOR.

 

Square enix has been working on content for over a year now, and it's still not fixed.

 

In fact, it's still barely more functioning than it was on release.

[Dantragk]

What a load of crap.

 

I played FFXIV, that game was a REAL failure at launch, not like people would have you believe about SWTOR.

 

Square enix has been working on content for over a year now, and it's still not fixed.

 

In fact, it's still barely more functioning than it was on release.

 

Now, I never said TOR was on the same level. XIV was a complete piece of crap but 2.0 holds some form of hope since they're completely redoing everything. There is nothing in the future of this game(at this point) that points towards BW changing their ways to move this game in the right direction.

[Daedricshots]

mythic are pvp failures, its no wonder the pvp in this game is outright terrible.

[djsmileey]

Now, I never said TOR was on the same level. XIV was a complete piece of crap but 2.0 holds some form of hope since they're completely redoing everything. There is nothing in the future of this game(at this point) that points towards BW changing their ways to move this game in the right direction.

 

lol how is that so?

 

Every video they release, and press conference they talk about all the coming content. It's been out for less than 2 months and already they released another flashpoint.

 

FFXIV is still broken after a year, and have no budget really to fix it.

 

How is this better?

Edited February 6, 2012 by djsmileey

[Edgecase]

Can someone please explain to me why people ***** so much about the GTN interface? It does everything I need it to do and more, I can't see any faults with it.

Sure. Imagine you're a level 25ish player and just got yourself a nice drop, and want to see how many of them are up on the GTN, and how much you might be able to get for one compared to vendoring it. It's called a "Battle Instructor Leggings", and is a level 25 orange item.

 

Can you go to a GTN terminal and type in "Battle Instructor Leggings" to find them? No.

 

Fine, so you look at the item again, determine that it's an Armor, but picking that in the interface still doesn't let you search it by name. If you enter the subtype Medium Armor, then proceed to the next option, you'll find that there are grey/white/green/blue/pink/purple settings for Rarity, but no orange. Huh?

 

It turns out that unless you already have a fairly thorough understanding of the game mechanics, you actually can't find what you're looking for (the item is blue because its Armoring slot mod is blue). Situations like this constitute a huge failure case for a large number of potential GTN users. It shouldn't take a level 50 character and 100 hours of gameplay to AH a simple drop without fear of getting ripped off.

 

Yes, you can get around the issue above by selecting Any then searching. You could probably figure it out, and so could I, but that doesn't make it a good design. The interface feels about as usable as Yahoo! circa 1995, back when the site was trying to organize itself like the phone book yellow pages.

 

Now let's look at a max level player who's looking for some nice companion gifts. There isn't even a category for those, much less one sub-sorted by gift level or type (luxury, courting, and so on). They're all lumped under Miscellaneous, with no filtering available except by item name. So if you don't already know what the Rank 5 blue Trophy companion gift is called off the top of your head... be ready to spend a while searching.

 

Then there's stack splitting, a basic necessity for any crafting material sales. I can't think of any other interface in modern gaming that requires you to hold shift and rightdrag the cursor out of the current inventory cell (the item itself doesn't even move) before offering you the split stack dialog. Half the people reading this probably just learned something new - it's that obscure.

 

If your basing your "thoughts" for SWTOR's future on preliminary test server patch notes for a patch that might not be released for nearly 2 months, I feel very sad for you. There might be tons of stuff that BioWare is putting in, they just don't want to put it on the test server yet because they want to do some more in-house testing before letting the public try it out.

 

My thoughts for SWTOR's future are based on observing the game's current state, and what the game's developers have done with it since release. As you say, fixes - if they even come in the 1.2 patch - are not on the horizon for 2 months: another $30 worth of subscription time, not to mention the value of players' time. I do not believe this to be a positive thing.

Edited February 7, 2012 by Edgecase

[GameNirvana]

I agree with most of what the OP says. I waited anxiously for this game since 2009. It severely disappointed me after I hit 50.

 

Everything before 50 was awesome..with exception of PvP until this latest patch which rendered 1-49 PvP better.

 

This game ends at 50. Reroll another character. Reroll again. Repeat until subscription ends. Play ME3, and wait for a better MMO to come out.

 

This is just WoW with lightsabers. I heard that over and over, but I didn't believe it until I played the game after level 50.

Edited February 7, 2012 by GameNirvana

[Treplos]

@ OP:

 

I've made my own review about this game (check my Sig). For some reason mine got locked . I think we agree on all the points you mentioned btw.

 

Did I play this game a lot? Yes I did. I loved it at first, but the bugs and issues started to accumulate up to a point where I felt I am testing a game in alpha state.

 

Some people think I've got some vendetta with the Devs, but I really do not. What got me disappointed enough to cancel was not the bugs or the core game problems (which had a major impact), but it was the bad Customer Support and the Dev's disregard for the community that forced my hand.

 

If you had a better experience, I am truly happy for you and wish you the best in this game.

 

A good Customer Support and transparent communication from the Dev team are paramount for me in any game. If that gets addressed at least (and hopefully along with some of the other main issues, especially in PVP), I will gladly re-subscribe.

Edited February 7, 2012 by Treplos

[Edgecase]

Main post updated with report on 1.1.2 patch. Maybe I should start a new thread. The original post in this one is getting pretty long.

 

Edit: Done.

Edited February 8, 2012 by Edgecase

[Jaenette]

This is actually one of the BEST reviews I've seen on the game.

You do a good job of outlining the points without resulting to insults and emotional responses. I too hope this game succeeds but I also agree with everything you've said.

[NoTomorrow]

I can tolerate ANYTHING but when they raised their dirty hands on Surge.. this is the end of my patience..

[DalrisThane]

Deleted. No point. Everyone is TLDR these days. +See Sig. Edited March 31, 2013 by DalrisThane

[MadCuzBad]

I wanted to post something, but can't come up with anything respectful to say. I'm disappointed in SWTOR though.

 

You and alot of other people.

[Mandrax]

mythic are pvp failures, its no wonder the pvp in this game is outright terrible.

 

DAoC in my opinion is STILL the best PvP game ever made. Mythic did a fine job on that one.

[avezes]

Thank you all for the well written reviews.

here is my 2 cents:

 

That could be because there is none.. well that isnt true, there is end game content, and mid game content, but it is very hard to utilize because of the poorly thought out grouping setup. Forming up groups is an after thought to this company that specializes in single player games and it was extremely apparent when you attempt to run flashpoints. Travel to them is very painful and ocne there, the dynamics of a 4 person group leave little to no room for 1 palyer to be a little weaker. The end result of this is that nobody wants to run pick up groups and take a chance on players that might make the trip to the flashpoint useless. So all you can do is PvP in these extremely lopsided PvP matches:

In summary: End game does not work AT all because traveling to instances is nigh impossible and take an hour to get each person to the instance to start. PVP in one sided PVP crap matches that are either extremely dull or fruitless depending on your side (yes I tried both)

Bioware really choked on this one.

Probably the worst release of an "MMO" since Eve.

 

If you have the 70ish bucks to blow on this game, enjoy the class quests and play the single player game (that was very well written). But, understand that this is anything but an MMO.

Edited February 19, 2012 by avezes

[AHChrist]

I agree with most of what the OP says. I waited anxiously for this game since 2009. It severely disappointed me after I hit 50.

 

Everything before 50 was awesome..with exception of PvP until this latest patch which rendered 1-49 PvP better.

 

This game ends at 50. Reroll another character. Reroll again. Repeat until subscription ends. Play ME3, and wait for a better MMO to come out.

 

This is just WoW with lightsabers. I heard that over and over, but I didn't believe it until I played the game after level 50.

 

Yeah...hate waiting on another MMO. I really wanted this one to be something I could play for 5-10 years.

Edited February 19, 2012 by AHChrist

[Nitewolfe]

LMFAO at thinking having mythic in this would help at all.

Mythic did 2 mmo games, One of them failed so badly that EA dissolved the studio and shunted them off to BW. The other one topped out at 250k subs less than half of what EQ pulled in during the same time frame.