Rate Bioware's performance thus far.

[magnustheredd]

I am curious what everyone thinks here. I understand what goes into these games and how complicated and expensive they are to make. (did a little college for programming and design.) Considering this is the developers first MMO I think they have done an amazing job. I know a lot of people want to complain about all the bugs and other issues but the devs have been rolling out fixes and other updates rather quickly. I think it's amazing that whole new content was released after only a couple of weeks. I think they are doing a great job balancing fixes and what is being fixed. Some think the game should have been delayed but I'll take a game that needs a little fixing before I wait another 6 months.

The game isn't perfect but I dare you to find an MMO that is (WOW is far from, accessibility generated community, thats WOWs secret). I am throughly impressed by the game and by the team continuing to be behind it. Their handling of the community has also been well above average.

I rate Bioware's performance at a 10!

[FinNaritus]

I am curious what everyone thinks here. I understand what goes into these games and how complicated and expensive they are to make. (did a little college for programming and design.) Considering this is the developers first MMO I think they have done an amazing job. I know a lot of people want to complain about all the bugs and other issues but the devs have been rolling out fixes and other updates rather quickly. I think it's amazing that whole new content was released after only a couple of weeks. I think they are doing a great job balancing fixes and what is being fixed. Some think the game should have been delayed but I'll take a game that needs a little fixing before I wait another 6 months.

The game isn't perfect but I dare you to find an MMO that is (WOW is far from, accessibility generated community, thats WOWs secret). I am throughly impressed by the game and by the team continuing to be behind it. Their handling of the community has also been well above average.

I rate Bioware's performance at a 10!

 

Handling of the community? Really bro? Your giving their performance a 10? SWTOR is flawless right now?..

[TheGreatNeechi]

Negative criticism has always had this fashionable air about it. That being said I think Bioware handled the launch of the game very, very well.

 

I'd like to see them get their maintainance times under control, but that will come.

 

As for their management of the game, I think they've been way too heavy handed with the nerf bat. I'd advise them to be very careful with that, and learn from other developers. Subtle tweeks are always the best way to go when it comes to balance issues, because no matter how accurate or pervasive your metrics are, sudden changes aggravate your players.

 

I give them a solid 8:

 

• Five Stars for release handling
  
• Two Stars for downtime
  
• One Star for management
  

[magnustheredd]

We all felt the squishyness of the nerf bat the minute we discovered what those classes could do. It was a little heavy handed but I for one expected that. I do agree that their maintenance schedule needs to level out, and that it will with a little time. I give them a 10 because this is their first MMO, if this was a company like sony or cryptic (*cough* the game would suck *cough*) I would agree with an 8 or even 7. Extra credit for first time Win.

[jarjarloves]

Release was great so thats a 10

 

Patching frequency gets a 10

 

Fixing bugs is a 10

 

but having new bugs in their patches gets them a 6 for that

 

Overall I give them a 9

 

 

Keep up the good work Bioware.

[Uruare]

For a company that's a rookie to the MMO scene, they're doing alright, I think.

 

In my opinion, they made some very amateurish mistakes in the 'Obvious thing is Obvious' department, and I don't think they asked the right questions of the right people (or listened to the right people perhaps) about a fair few things....but.

 

I'm seeing evidence all over the place that they learn fast, and they learn pretty well.

 

All in all, I am not impressed with some of those mistakes made, though I am impressed at how they've handled the back end where networking and server stability is concerned; quite impressed there, actually.

 

I'm still waiting to see more of how they address existing issues, but so far, what they've shown so far and what they're statedly on docket to address -looks- like it -could- be good.

 

Time will tell on that one.

 

 

Server downtimes for patching? Eh, no, it's not terribly -convenient- the servers have been down so often for so long as they have been, but I cannot fault them for it. Those patches need to happen and that's just that.

 

I haven't played in a couple of weeks, both for RL being busy for me as well as a general lack of interest, but I won't be unsubbing.

 

They're upping their game admirably, and that gets my nod.

Edited February 12, 2012 by Uruare

[Jswizzle]

Bioware has impressed me.

 

I got exactly what I expected and in some areas I got more.

[lord_zod]

I am curious what everyone thinks here. I understand what goes into these games and how complicated and expensive they are to make. (did a little college for programming and design.) Considering this is the developers first MMO I think they have done an amazing job. I know a lot of people want to complain about all the bugs and other issues but the devs have been rolling out fixes and other updates rather quickly. I think it's amazing that whole new content was released after only a couple of weeks. I think they are doing a great job balancing fixes and what is being fixed. Some think the game should have been delayed but I'll take a game that needs a little fixing before I wait another 6 months.

The game isn't perfect but I dare you to find an MMO that is (WOW is far from, accessibility generated community, thats WOWs secret). I am throughly impressed by the game and by the team continuing to be behind it. Their handling of the community has also been well above average.

I rate Bioware's performance at a 10!

 

10? Not to insult you but your delusional.

 

BW customer service is massively unresponsive. They don't actually read the tickets and instead toss everything into the "bug report". Speaking of bugs everytime the fix one they create new ones. They don't test their fixes enough. Someone would say how can they fix them when no one tests them on the test server. I have a better idea how about they pay players to test their fixes maybe then they can actually fix things.

 

Lets move on; how about server downtimes. This is important but I'm not complaining about the how many times they bring the servers down but when. There is a serious lack of logic and common sense at BW/EA. So much so that I am beginning to wonder if some adolescent is the one in charge. YOU DON'T BRING DOWN SERVERS WHEN POPULATIONS ARE HEAVY! This goes for U.S. and Europe. There is absolutely no excuse for this. I can understand if the server needed to be rebooted or a very important hot fix for an exploit but maintenance??? No sorry that's total bull. Most if not all MMO's take there servers down in the late AM meaning 4-5am PST. Why? Common sense! Populations are at there lowest.

 

End game is garbage and nothing but a major grind.

 

Loot drops are garbage. Instead of getting an item that you need you get something for the spec that you are not. Example; Sith Warrior I only ever get armor for juggernauts and not for my marauder.

 

Loading screens stall because of FPS? What? How is a simple load screen that has very little graphic intensity stopping my loading in to a warzone. I can't tell you how many times I have been booted because I didn't clear the zone in time.

 

Developers are non-existent. I saw there so called Q&A. Hardly any questions were answered in regards to hot topic issues but instead talked about future stuff that doesn't mean squat right now. They should concentrated solely on the hot topics. Ilum - server down times (there are hundreds if not thousands of posts on this) - loot drops - FPS - ability delay - etc.

 

I'm tired of ranting right now but there is no way they get 10 nothing higher than a 3 from me. Until they start addressing the hot topics and fixing them especially downtimes for me and thousands of others who have this issue than it will never go any higher.

Edited February 12, 2012 by lord_zod

[Meldwyn]

5

 

I think their release was very good, which brings their rating up (9), in my eyes. However, their end game is a 2 (typical MMO, with no story and companion development), bugs and bugs in their fixes gets a 4, and lag and other performance issues gets a 2. Thus, a 5 overall. Could be a lot better, but its not the worst out there either!

[Chromiie]

6.

 

Their CS is terrible and while they are trying to work on PvE and PVP content they didn't mention much on crafting.

[Bluejayoo]

6...

 

Cons

___________________________

 

- High end armors are worse than bad, they are laughable. Probably the worst looking high end gear I have ever encountered in 15 years of playing MMO's.

 

- The Republic side has major quality and balance issues, leading to huge population imbalances

 

- Crafting is mostly an afterthought and was so poorly balanced they had to nerf several skills almost immediately on release. The remaining skills are almost useless at the end game.

 

- Patches released to date have often broken things more than they fixed them. We had one patch that turned Ilum into a unplayable killing field. We had another that broke the ability for kills to count at all for rewards, three separate cool down systems that get worse with each patch, etc...

 

- Graphics are dated and the engine performs very poorly. Very poor optimization. I've tested this on a variety of system specs. My gaming system is extremely high end so I don't see the performance problems, but pixelated, blurry graphics, low poly counts (I should not be able to count the angles on my Jedi hood) are disappointing.

 

- Some of the stories are pretty bad, with weird and often terrible morality choices. Corelia is a grind fest. Particularly for their emphasis on story, it doesn't feel like your character's actions have any real impact. A game released in 2011 that doesn't even have phasing? As a Sith Warrior, even light sided, if someone betrays me and tries to end my life, they die. I am just saying.

 

- Missing features on release that should be a given in a MMO - guild banks, anti-aliasing, phasing, etc... yeah, they are coming and some have already been added, but I don't remember them offering to delay charging me for they don't get away with delaying giving me a full product.

 

- Very primitive character customization.

 

- There are still too many bugs in this game, it was obviously released too early. The list of broken things is way too long for here.

 

- Some companion stories are STILL broken, preventing continuation of the story line.

 

 

Mixed

_____________________

 

- Serious class balance issues, but these tend to be in any MMO. They will get better and then worse then better then worse again with time.

 

- Lack of any real innovation. This really is WOW with light sabers. On one hand, if that MMO model isn't broken why fix it? On the other, I've played this game before, many times before.

 

- Space combat. A fun mini-game with real character benefits is great, but some people wanted a lot more. I REALLY like the space combat, but many did not so I put it in mixed.

 

 

Pros

_____________________

 

- Grind is dead. The story and VO does a fantastic job of removing the typical MMO grind fest.

 

- Some of the stories and companions are very good, particularly on the Empire side.

Edited February 12, 2012 by Bluejayoo

[Ariacan]

The voice acting is neat, but the novelty is wearing off fast. It's very much your average "themepark mmo." My other issue is the poor optimization, specifically in BGs, every other area runs at a smooth 45+ frames per second but the second i get in a BG it dips quite a bit.

 

All that being said i do find the game fun and will stick with it until the next big game comes out, or until the new game novelty wears off.

 

Overall a solid 7.

[Feelinestars]

I am curious what everyone thinks here. I understand what goes into these games and how complicated and expensive they are to make. (did a little college for programming and design.) Considering this is the developers first MMO I think they have done an amazing job. I know a lot of people want to complain about all the bugs and other issues but the devs have been rolling out fixes and other updates rather quickly. I think it's amazing that whole new content was released after only a couple of weeks. I think they are doing a great job balancing fixes and what is being fixed. Some think the game should have been delayed but I'll take a game that needs a little fixing before I wait another 6 months.

The game isn't perfect but I dare you to find an MMO that is (WOW is far from, accessibility generated community, thats WOWs secret). I am throughly impressed by the game and by the team continuing to be behind it. Their handling of the community has also been well above average.

I rate Bioware's performance at a 10!

 

10/10

 

Hilarious!

[PanikSpreder]

I've been having a good time so far - taking it nice and slow, so I havent noticed some of the end-game bugs or experimented enough with PvP to give it a final judgement.

 

But I did buy this game thinking: "If its WoW in Space with better story, I'm fine". And they sure have delieved on the story aspect. The combat is, for most parts, smooth and tight, the flashpoints are excellent and I really like that every Heroic Quest starts as one and is not a normal questline being upgraded into one (its optional, me like it).

 

Only thing I was disapointed with is the consequence system. No killing companions or even remove them from your crew and later being able to get them back later. That was probally one of the more interesting features that could have been pretty damn cool.

 

Overall, I'd give it a:

8/10

[MaverickXIV]

I hate numbered reviews, but if I had to:

 

-1 for the lack of high-quality textures outside of cut scenes.

 

-1 for the lack of server forums/server transfers/community building tools/etc.

 

So SWTOR gets an 8 right now, which is probably what I'd give WoW, Rift, etc. I typically find that there's two pretty big things that bug me about every MMO, and every other problem is sort of cancelled out either by something awesome, or by the fact that it happens in every MMO anyway.

 

As I'm playing the game right now, the only negative feelings I have are "I wish my character looked better" and "I wish I wasn't playing alone." Everything else is negligible to me.

[magnustheredd]

10? Not to insult you but your delusional.

 

BW customer service is massively unresponsive. They don't actually read the tickets and instead toss everything into the "bug report". Speaking of bugs everytime the fix one they create new ones. They don't test their fixes enough. Someone would say how can they fix them when no one tests them on the test server. I have a better idea how about they pay players to test their fixes maybe then they can actually fix things.

 

Lets move on; how about server downtimes. This is important but I'm not complaining about the how many times they bring the servers down but when. There is a serious lack of logic and common sense at BW/EA. So much so that I am beginning to wonder if some adolescent is the one in charge. YOU DON'T BRING DOWN SERVERS WHEN POPULATIONS ARE HEAVY! This goes for U.S. and Europe. There is absolutely no excuse for this. I can understand if the server needed to be rebooted or a very important hot fix for an exploit but maintenance??? No sorry that's total bull. Most if not all MMO's take there servers down in the late AM meaning 4-5am PST. Why? Common sense! Populations are at there lowest.

 

End game is garbage and nothing but a major grind.

 

Loot drops are garbage. Instead of getting an item that you need you get something for the spec that you are not. Example; Sith Warrior I only ever get armor for juggernauts and not for my marauder.

 

Loading screens stall because of FPS? What? How is a simple load screen that has very little graphic intensity stopping my loading in to a warzone. I can't tell you how many times I have been booted because I didn't clear the zone in time.

 

Developers are non-existent. I saw there so called Q&A. Hardly any questions were answered in regards to hot topic issues but instead talked about future stuff that doesn't mean squat right now. They should concentrated solely on the hot topics. Ilum - server down times (there are hundreds if not thousands of posts on this) - loot drops - FPS - ability delay - etc.

 

I'm tired of ranting right now but there is no way they get 10 nothing higher than a 3 from me. Until they start addressing the hot topics and fixing them especially downtimes for me and thousands of others who have this issue than it will never go any higher.

 

 

Pay players to test their patches? Who's delusional? Do you have any idea the complexity of the code that goes into even minor patches?

As for the down time. In my time zone it's 2 to 8am. That sounds about right to me. Maybe you shouldn't live in Ugonda.

End game is Supposed to be a grind. Again who's delusional?

The loot system could use a little tweaking but it is no ware near as bad as your making it out.

I haven't had a problem with the FPS on the loading screen and that makes no sense that anyone would. I think the zone is taking a while to load for you, and you should upgrade your comp. I assure you you no longer need a floppy drive.

How many questions were in that Q&A and how many were answered? Do you have any idea how busy this team has to be, they dont have time to console all those who want to QQ over issues that barely matter and will be gotten too.

[Cormey]

Overall about a 7.

 

I don't believe in the perfect 10, whenever I see a review of something and it's a 10/10 (or whatever number they use) I immediately disregard it. Especially when they then go on to state things like "the game should have been delayed" and "the game isn't perfect" which are direct contradictions to the perfect score given.

 

On to some reasons behind my score:

 

Their release was smooth which is good, but they didn't release worldwide (and still haven't) so with that in mind I don't consider that to be a very big feat.

 

Their patching has been timely though could use a wee bit more QA so we don't end up seeing as many 'pimp yo ride' style patches-for-patches.

 

I've not had very good experiences with their CSR in regards to issues i've come up against ingame. if they want to keep touting their 'high level of quality service' that needs a big boost.

 

Overall the game itself is great but there's several niggling issues I have personally that prevent me from enjoying it as much as I could be.

Edited February 12, 2012 by Cormey

[Gankdalf_]

Game release 5/10 (people waiting days without any idea when they would get access)

 

Game state on release 3/10 (clearly this game was nowhere near finished, guild banks lol, custome UI lol, Bugs, oh the list would be too long to write)

 

Handling of community/customer service 1 (people waiting hours on phone, tickets unanswered for days, threads deleted/locked for expressing an opinion, this is still happeneing now) 1/10

 

Patching is also a mess, sometimes patches to fix patches, Europe get all the daytime downtime, very poor show. 3/10

 

MMO score? This game is anything but massive, it's more like a RPG, this is because Bioware never did proper research. If they had they would know sharding is a no, no for MMO's. 4/10

 

PvP clearly research was again flawed. The so called world pvp is as rare as rocking horse poop, the factions are kept well apart by walls, canyons and invisible barriers, it even has level 50 elite champion gaurds at level 20 bases. If anything this game is anti wolrd pvp. Warzones are also rubbish 8 v 8 *** WOW has 40 v 40 what a joke 1/10

 

Questing well this is a plus, great fun, the best yet in an mmo although I started hitting spacebar at 30 as the voices got old. 8/10

 

Overally a total shambles, there is no excuse for this mess, anyone can go play Rift, LOTR, WOW, WAR or any other MMO and see what is good and what is bad. BW seem to have taken all the bad stuff.

 

Total Score 4/10 as I am feeling generous.

Edited February 12, 2012 by Gankdalf_

[-Cid-]

6...

 

Cons

___________________________

 

- High end armors are worse than bad, they are laughable. Probably the worst looking high end gear I have ever encountered in 15 years of playing MMO's.

 

- The Republic side has major quality and balance issues, leading to huge population imbalances

 

- Crafting is mostly an afterthought and was so poorly balanced they had to nerf several skills almost immediately on release. The remaining skills are almost useless at the end game.

 

- Patches released to date have often broken things more than they fixed them. We had one patch that turned Ilum into a unplayable killing field. We had another that broke the ability for kills to count at all for rewards, three separate cool down systems that get worse with each patch, etc...

 

- Graphics are dated and the engine performs very poorly. Very poor optimization. I've tested this on a variety of system specs. My gaming system is extremely high end so I don't see the performance problems, but pixelated, blurry graphics, low poly counts (I should not be able to count the angles on my Jedi hood) are disappointing.

 

- Some of the stories are pretty bad, with weird and often terrible morality choices. Corelia is a grind fest. Particularly for their emphasis on story, it doesn't feel like your character's actions have any real impact. A game released in 2011 that doesn't even have phasing? As a Sith Warrior, even light sided, if someone betrays me and tries to end my life, they die. I am just saying.

 

- Missing features on release that should be a given in a MMO - guild banks, anti-aliasing, phasing, etc... yeah, they are coming and some have already been added, but I don't remember them offering to delay charging me for they don't get away with delaying giving me a full product.

 

- Very primitive character customization.

 

- There are still too many bugs in this game, it was obviously released too early. The list of broken things is way too long for here.

 

- Some companion stories are STILL broken, preventing continuation of the story line.

 

 

Mixed

_____________________

 

- Serious class balance issues, but these tend to be in any MMO. They will get better and then worse then better then worse again with time.

 

- Lack of any real innovation. This really is WOW with light sabers. On one hand, if that MMO model isn't broken why fix it? On the other, I've played this game before, many times before.

 

- Space combat. A fun mini-game with real character benefits is great, but some people wanted a lot more. I REALLY like the space combat, but many did not so I put it in mixed.

 

 

Pros

_____________________

 

- Grind is dead. The story and VO does a fantastic job of removing the typical MMO grind fest.

 

- Some of the stories and companions are very good, particularly on the Empire side.

 

good post, and i have to agree on everything said.

 

swtor had so much potential, but for me it is not really delivering (fasat) enough.

 

for the fun i had so far, even with all the flaws and hickups, i would rate it at a 7

[Aisar]

Performance can be a very broad word to different people. If you are talking their post launch ability to get things done and to get the game squared away, then they are doing amazing.

 

The game as a whole, as a piece of work, a game, I give a 5.

[denpic]

8/10 it's pretty decent and will only improve

[magnustheredd]

The game could have been delayed and that may have helped but, I'll deal with some problems before waiting another six months to play it.

[Shingara]

I would give bioware an 8/10, overall they are doing well for a company that has never really been in the mmo market before. of course they have warhmmer under there belts since they swallowed up mythic.

 

Whats gotta be remembered is that these forums dont reflect the main feelings on the live game and that the forums are mostly made up of destructive crit instead of constructive crit.

[Canuck_TwnTNN]

Solid 8 overall.

 

Considerations -

 

- Launch

- Overall bugs

- Bug and update corrections

- Gameplay

- PvE

- PvP

- Sound, graphics, etc

 

 

Looking at all of those and mixing and matching various scores in my head.

 

Cheers!

Mis_&_Match_Canuck

[Llann]

3.5/11

 

This game is boring as hell, the stories are lame, it's far too easy and I've never played an MMO that required minute long loading screens.

 

And then one of the product leads describes it as more innovative than Half-life. =/

 

Emperor has no clothes, guys.