Boring Static World of SWTOR

[Cordelia]

I HOPE in 6 months things will be improved. Seems like BW is trying. I'll give them that.

 

Kinda Ironic. I both support BW's efforts, and am somewhat disappointed with the product. Man being a Libra is a PITA. lol.

 

Try being a Gemini, I can't decide if I like the game or not

[RycheMykola]

I loved the questing. I enjoy my character development. Tython seemed pretty interesting... At first glance.

 

However most worlds are so static and boring. Besides the occasional group of empire or republic soldier standing around or huddled behind a barricade forever shooting over it, the world feels so empty and static.

 

Nothing moves around, there is no hustle and bustle of the world. No NPC events or occurrences. Ilum is supposed to be this big battlefield but really its a bunch of people standing around. Fleet feels so empty if their aren't players running around.

 

Its hard to immerse yourself in such a static and stagnant world. Even older MMOs have made the world feel at least somewhat inhabited and interesting.

 

Ilum would be so much more fun if it was a giant war, full of NPC's running around and fighting each other, instead we get big stupid walkers just sitting there ready for us to walk up to, picnic around it, then if we are bored, shoot a missile at it.

 

<Yawn>

Step 1: Take the Blinders off your head

Step 2: Stop smashing the space bar

Step 3: Look around the game world while you are questing

 

If you don't look around while playing, you won't see anything.

 

There's lots of NPC's going around doing stuff. Are you talking about this game or another MMO?

[Napalmbrain]

300 million dollars.

 

I will never get over this...

 

Also I will never get over the fact that people are OK with the game turning out like this on a 300 million dollar budget. At the same time i understand people were waiting forever for this game and they were counting on it so....will take them awhile to come to terms. Or not.

[Jett-Rinn]

I will never get over this...

 

Also I will never get over the fact that people are OK with the game turning out like this on a 300 million dollar budget. At the same time i understand people were waiting forever for this game and they were counting on it so....will take them awhile to come to terms. Or not.

 

I'll let you in on a little secret

 

The QQbirgade was pasting the exact same thing about Blizzard spending 65 million on WoW back in 2004.

[Halvos]

Step 1: Take the Blinders off your head

Step 2: Stop smashing the space bar

Step 3: Look around the game world while you are questing

 

If you don't look around while playing, you won't see anything.

 

There's lots of NPC's going around doing stuff. Are you talking about this game or another MMO?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3Rrk6lgi24

 

Yes, so exciting.

[nomaar]

I think they made a mistake by farming out the artwork to studios in China and Eastern Europe. It should have been done in-house and directed by someone with some vision. It resulted in an overall artistic feel that's pretty utilitarian.

[Saitada]

LOL having a Sister who is a Libra I quite agree.

 

Being a Libra really is a pain though. You always seem to see both sides of the story. Even when you don't want to. The worst part of it is I will sometimes take the exact opposite tact to how I really feel on a subject, and discuss from that point of view... and win the argument or discussion... which REALLY messes with my head lol. It's even worse, when I try arguing BOTH sides at the same time, get mad at myself, and ignore me for the rest of the day!

 

 

 

Try being a Gemini, I can't decide if I like the game or not

 

Little of both maybe?

 

*edit* ok.Been home from work for about 1/2 an hour, wound down. time for bed. Goodnight folks, and remember....

 

The Enemies Gate Is Down!

 

~S

Edited February 14, 2012 by Saitada

[Jett-Rinn]

Step 1: Take the Blinders off your head

Step 2: Stop smashing the space bar

Step 3: Look around the game world while you are questing

 

If you don't look around while playing, you won't see anything.

 

There's lots of NPC's going around doing stuff. Are you talking about this game or another MMO?

 

I agree with this......I see a lot of players who just kill the spacebar then have a baby fit over how dead the game is and when you bring that up they will whine Cut Scenes don't count!!!! The just can't wrap their heads around the concept of this game and they actually think the devlopers are going to NGE it to make them happy.

[RycheMykola]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3Rrk6lgi24

 

Yes, so exciting.

Ever play WOW? Even less goes on in capital cities. You could make the same video.

 

Seems like quite a bit of NPC's doing things. What do you want? 6,000,000 NPC's walking around the area all having different conversations?

 

I actually play the game, worlds seem far from dead to me.

[ZedFighter]

Like I said before, they wasted the majority of their budget on cut scenes and voice overs. If they would have reversed their priorities, the game would be soooo much better.

 

You're right it feels dead and soulless. This is why I'm drooling at the mouth for GW2 to come out. Now that, is a living breathing world.

 

Sadly this game reminds of what happened to Warhammer Online. May it's soul that had tons of potential rest in piece

[Kweevon]

Well I quit in sheer frustration (on rails experience, dungeons rather than "planets", dead worlds, where is everybody? etc etc) a couple of weeks ago and deinstalled. Just before my sub was up I decided to come back to make sure that I did the right thing, that I didn't just quit because it wasn't what I expected it to be, installed, loaded up. Another inane cutscene with a "are you a good guy, bad guy, in between guy" option. Run off to zap a few NPCs who are too busy trying to walk into each other than detect somebody heavily armed coming. Run back to quest point bouncing off invisible walls on the way. Rinse and repeat. Deinstall.

 

Problem for this game is I think I am in one of the target audiences. Casual gamer, Star Wars fan... like MMOs but not an MMO expert...

 

Off I go. There's lots of people here who enjoy it, just not my cup of tea. I hope for Bioware's sake there aren't too many like me.

Edited February 14, 2012 by Kweevon

[RycheMykola]

I agree with this......I see a lot of players who just kill the spacebar then have a baby fit over how dead the game is and when you bring that up they will whine Cut Scenes don't count!!!! The just can't wrap their heads around the concept of this game and they actually think the devlopers are going to NGE it to make them happy.

Thanks................ I remember questing on Nar Shaddaa and there were drunk people stumbling around, some NPC guy was holding back his woman's hair while she was puking, people dancing and gambling. Yup, nothing going on.

 

People complain there are no birds flying around. They probably never looked up, see all the spaceships and destroyers flying around there? They're scurred to fly.

 

Weather and day/night cycles? I've never been off the Earth, not all planets have a 24 hour day or revolve around a sun in 365 days. How do you know it even rains on other planets? Best example was hearing someone complain about wanting rain on Tattoine.

 

Swimming - Thank goodness. I always felt like smashing my head on a desk when I was forced to swim in WOW.

 

The only thing imho that needs some work is the random conversations, sometimes you'll move a mile away from the NPC's and then you start hearing there conversations.

[Nippon]

I loved the questing. I enjoy my character development. Tython seemed pretty interesting... At first glance.

 

However most worlds are so static and boring. Besides the occasional group of empire or republic soldier standing around or huddled behind a barricade forever shooting over it, the world feels so empty and static.

 

Nothing moves around, there is no hustle and bustle of the world. No NPC events or occurrences. Ilum is supposed to be this big battlefield but really its a bunch of people standing around. Fleet feels so empty if their aren't players running around.

 

Its hard to immerse yourself in such a static and stagnant world. Even older MMOs have made the world feel at least somewhat inhabited and interesting.

 

Ilum would be so much more fun if it was a giant war, full of NPC's running around and fighting each other, instead we get big stupid walkers just sitting there ready for us to walk up to, picnic around it, then if we are bored, shoot a missile at it.

 

<Yawn>

 

Could not agree more O.P...

 

And it comes down to 2-3 things, Inevitably with any MMO the community it was make's it......This game frankly has no Crafting or Social community...There is no reason to mass group anywhere other than Fleet for simply using the GTN or heading to a Flashpoint / Raid......There is no Crafting what so ever in this game, no community of armourers, weaponsmith's, artifice's etc etc..

 

Why ??

 

Because Bioware choose a dumbed down version of Crafting as opposed to an SWG style of crafting that let the community thrive, End game content required Crafter's so players could be the best, It required visiting an Entertainer in a Cantina to receive a player buff to aid in End Game...

 

SWTOR has none of this or is anywhere near close to getting it, and subs will drastically fall in time because of it.

 

MOst player's i know have more or less full Columi/Champion sets of Gear after 2 months....Crafter's are alienated by rare item drops in Instance's and under this system the Game will Dwindle substantially over the coming months...

 

With fix after fix coming to Ilum and P.V.P and the rewards associated with P.V.P....The game is seeing a demise already.....Its an MMORPG....Not an MMOPVP...!!!

 

When the Dev's realize that and start adding some desperately needed SANDBOX elements, Then, and Only then, will the game start to thrive....ATM its the best SINGLE PLAYER MMO ever created...!!

 

Unfortunately there is a mass of other FREE game's out there with more to offer atm than SWTOR...!!

 

Just my 2 cent's....

 

Riato 50 Guardian / Artifice 400 (Worthless)

Relu 50 Commando / Biochem 400 (Only good craft skill should never have been a craft option)

Scoobiy 20 Consular / Armstech 350 ( Useless )

[Halvos]

Ever play WOW? Even less goes on in capital cities. You could make the same video.

 

Seems like quite a bit of NPC's doing things. What do you want? 6,000,000 NPC's walking around the area all having different conversations?

 

I actually play the game, worlds seem far from dead to me.

 

I wasn't comparing to WoW, but since you want to. WoW actually has ambience everywhere, unlike this game. Not to mention it has weather effects as well as day/night cycles. Things that make it feel a little more alive. On top of all that, they match the music to the zone really well. In SWTOR there isn't even an option to repeat music.

 

Not to mention all the other games that bring life to their worlds.

 

Edit:

 

Weather and day/night cycles? I've never been off the Earth, not all planets have a 24 hour day or revolve around a sun in 365 days. How do you know it even rains on other planets? Best example was hearing someone complain about wanting rain on Tattoine.

 

Since you brought this up, might as well add it in. Tatooine does have both suns go down in the movie. Just saying.

Edited February 14, 2012 by Halvos

[Jett-Rinn]

Thanks................ I remember questing on Nar Shaddaa and there were drunk people stumbling around, some NPC guy was holding back his woman's hair while she was puking, people dancing and gambling. Yup, nothing going on.

 

People complain there are no birds flying around. They probably never looked up, see all the spaceships and destroyers flying around there? They're scurred to fly.

 

Weather and day/night cycles? I've never been off the Earth, not all planets have a 24 hour day or revolve around a sun in 365 days. How do you know it even rains on other planets? Best example was hearing someone complain about wanting rain on Tattoine.

 

Swimming - Thank goodness. I always felt like smashing my head on a desk when I was forced to swim in WOW.

 

The only thing imho that needs some work is the random conversations, sometimes you'll move a mile away from the NPC's and then you start hearing there conversations.

 

 

Yep all true......I remember on Coruscant...you had kids rummaging through the garbage and when you came back to that area they were gone...and sometimes there were a Mob there and a bit of what those kids were wearing on the ground...but yeah lifeless world.

 

My only issue is I would like for things to be a bit more dynamic and less scripted in the future.

[run_hello]

The worlds are barren of style and substance. I can't put my finger on what it is, a combination of rarely seeing another person and general lack of ambiance. Getting exhausted in knee deep water is a cool "feature" too.

 

Plus they've created these planets that you're going to enjoy for maybe 2 levels before heading to the next one. There's no reason to ever go back after you leave.

 

They could've just created this game with warzones, the Fleet, and Ilum since that's where everyone ends up standing around in the end.

 

Some people are happy with sub-mediocrity, some expect more.

[Jett-Rinn]

The worlds are barren of style and substance. I can't put my finger on what it is, a combination of rarely seeing another person and general lack of ambiance. Getting exhausted in knee deep water is a cool "feature" too.

 

Plus they've created these planets that you're going to enjoy for maybe 2 levels before heading to the next one. There's no reason to ever go back after you leave.

 

They could've just created this game with warzones, the Fleet, and Ilum since that's where everyone ends up standing around in the end.

 

Some people are happy with sub-mediocrity, some expect more.

 

Can your post be any more obtuse?

 

No silly some people enjoy the game and are not nearly as jaded as you are and they have more intelligence then to whine and insult other people on the forum of a game they don't like.

 

Edited February 14, 2012 by Jett-Rinn

[DocVandar]

The game just has no soul...

 

I am going to have to agree with you on that one. On paper this game does a lot right. But I have recently cancelled my sub because I simply no longer have any desire to play this game (note that TOR was probably my most anticipated video game of all time, and I have been gaming since the days of the Atari).

 

It's hard to put my finger on what the game is lacking, but all I know is that when I first played WoW, I could not stop playing. After leveling a character to about 40 in TOR, my desire to play started to rapidly decrease, to the point where I do not even log in anymore. Maybe it is because of the lifeless, empty worlds. Maybe it is because the basic core game play is the exact same as WoW and I am simply burnt out on that formula. Maybe it is because the game is too linear, and has no sense of exploration or freedom. All that I know is that TOR has failed to deliver for me personally, and all I can think of when playing it is what it could have been.

[Farbod]

Can your post be any more obtuse?

 

No silly some people enjoy the game and are not nearly as jaded as you are and they have more intelligence then to whine and insult other people on the forum of a game they don't like.

 

 

I really hope you are at least getting some free playing time for all your white knighting. You just come off as a *******...

 

Your argument isn't that the game does have ambiance and a rich vibrant world, its that players dont care about having a rich vibrant world in a Star Wars game. Please just think about that for a second.

[RycheMykola]

I wasn't comparing to WoW, but since you want to. WoW actually has ambience everywhere, unlike this game. Not to mention it has weather effects as well as day/night cycles. Things that make it feel a little more alive. On top of all that, they match the music to the zone really well. In SWTOR there isn't even an option to repeat music.

 

Not to mention all the other games that bring life to their worlds.

 

Edit:

 

 

 

Since you brought this up, might as well add it in. Tatooine does have both suns go down in the movie. Just saying.

If you want a night cycle, play with your eyes closed.

 

How does WOW have ambiance everwhere??? ROFL, so a random rabbit that gets killed by a wolf adds to your gaming experience?

In WOW, NPC's are completely static and do nothing short of saying something different each time you click them. NPC quest givers and mobs stand in the same place and don't move either.

Heck, that game was so lifeless I didn't see 1 other person while leveling 1-80 except in Orgrimmar. When I did get to the Cata areas, the only other people I saw were bots collecting mats.

 

(Heck, the other day I also heard someone complaining that the Devs suck because they had 2 suns on Tattoine).

Edited February 14, 2012 by RycheMykola

[sheisty]

Well for me its the storylines that make the world come alive and make it seem like you are part of the overall story of the Republic(ans) vs Imperials. In past games I didnt give a crap about story or cared to read 1000 pages of quest text. this game hands you a story at every step. This alone makes this game more alive feeling than any other mmo so far. And its not like im some big lore or story junkie, because im not. But they way its presented in this game is top notch. even the flashpoints are well done in this respect. You no longer just go to cave xxx and beat up trash packs followed by boss xxx and have no clue why you are there. This game flavors everything with a story and everything therefore has a meaning.

 

As to the static world, its no more static than any other mmo ive played. I dont understand what you mean by this or what you expect.

Edited February 14, 2012 by sheisty

[Saitada]

*gets back out of bed to post this final thought*

 

The game has it's good points, and bad points, strengths and weaknesses. Some people are going to like it, some will loath it, and some will feel a bit of both.

 

Some will find their expectations of the game, based on what was said, hinted at and implied by BW will fail to be met, and for others, the game is everything they have dreamed about.

 

Nobody is wrong. Usually I don't say that, but you also have to take into consideration that human beings are diverse creatures. No one thing will satisfy everyone (except maybe water and salt), so people saying they like or dislike something doesn't make them right or wrong, it just means that is how THEY feel about it.

 

ALL sides of the equation need to remember that (myself included), and stop attacking people just because they see things differently than you do. Remember this.... and try to accept that we are all different.

 

This has been a public service announcement by an incredibly tired man who just worked a 12 hour shift. If it makes no sense to you, blame it on that.

 

~Sam

[Halvos]

If you want a night cycle, play with your eyes closed.

 

How does WOW have ambiance everwhere??? ROFL, so a random rabbit that gets killed by a wolf adds to your gaming experience?

In WOW, NPC's are completely static and do nothing short of saying something different each time you click them. NPC quest givers and mobs stand in the same place and don't move either.

Heck, that game was so lifeless I didn't see 1 other person while leveling 1-80 except in Orgrimmar. When I did get to the Cata areas, the only other people I saw were bots collecting mats.

 

(Heck, the other day I also heard someone complaining that the Devs suck because they had 2 suns on Tattoine).

 

In this game you're lucky if you see 1 other person while leveling. The one thing they did best in this game was separating everyone from each other while you level. You want to sit there and lie saying you only ever saw 1 other person in WoW, go ahead. I quit playing that game a while ago anyway so it doesn't matter to me. Doesn't change the fact that this game is more lifeless than anything else I've played. In fact there was just a thread on this very topic not too long ago.

[Melkathi]

Just got home so I missed a lot of the discussion. I'll just make a few notes of things on lively gaming environments.

 

Many moons ago I used to play a game called City of Heroes. There was something that really drew me into that game that had nothing to do with gameplay, story or character creation; when I was playing there were things happening around me. Petty criminals were trying to snatch purses. Hudlums with baseball bats were threatening people. A demonic cult was dragging people off to sacrifice them. And all the time, in the ambient chat window I would see their comments: I'd sit on a roof and her from the streets below "Nobody can save you." and I would think "Not on my watch." and dive to streets below.

Of course the superhero genre really works well for that.

 

In a way that was what I always felt a bit lacking in Champions Online. Though they did add some beautiful little things to liven up the world. The irradiates that would gather in masses under a large nuke, to lsiten to their preacher. The oasis were a cult was doing a random ritual... There were npcs doing things that a player interested in exploration could find.

DC Universe Online as well did not have too much "random" stuff happening, though a lot of npcs were placed in such a way that they were doing something other than just waiting for a player to kill them. There was a nonstop struggle between criminals and police. And you would find the occasional random car thief or guy trying to break open an ATM.

 

In SWTOR npcs don't really itneract with other npcs or the world. Yes on each planet there are a couple of npcs having a nicely voiced conversation which, if it triggers, you will keep hearing even if you are miles away. When you leave a safe area, some soldiers of your faction will be kneeling behind cover shooting at enemies. On rare occasions (like certain soldiers on Ord Mantell) if you take out those enemies, the soldiers will stop firing and cheer. Usually though they'll keep firing at nothing. A few steps beyond nothing is happening. If you do run into npcs of your side and there is no mission hub nearby it means you have strayed into the leveling area of the other faction.

 

The real shame is that Heroic missions and Area missions seem to have completly missed the point. Were World Quests in Warhammer Online or Open Missions in Champions Online were adding life to the location, Heroic areas in SWTOR are just areas with tougher enemies. Yes, you proceed through stages, but what do they realy do to help make the world come alive?

And area quests don't even have the harder opponents...

 

It does not need to be a Rikti invasion from City of Heroes/Villains. But it would be really nice if something would happen every now and then on planets.

Why can't there be a sandstorm on Tatooine or a snowstorm on Hoth?

 

If you have a mission to take out the imperial artillery on Corellia, why can't there be mortar fire in that section of the map which stops upon completion of the mission until someone else picks it up?

I guess because of time and budget constraints...

Yeah...

What were those numbers people keep quoting?

[DarthSublimitas]

I will never get over this...

 

Also I will never get over the fact that people are OK with the game turning out like this on a 300 million dollar budget. At the same time i understand people were waiting forever for this game and they were counting on it so....will take them awhile to come to terms. Or not.

 

 

Oh didn't you hear? The majority of the 300mil went to VOICE OVER ACTING. The few pennies left over went to the "development" of the game...