This game has most boring and repetitive side quests of any game I played

[AkemManah]

I agree the quests can get boring if you aren't really into your character, the story, and the voiceovers. Or if leveling an alt and seeing the same side quests again.

 

The thing that makes mmo's great for me:

 

I can break up the questing with other leveling means like pvp and space combat, or hang out and be social in the fleet.

 

This is where mmo's are better than rpg's for me, I get bored easily with both, and most games are made very easy for people who game a lot. The story is always my main focus and swtor has 8 class stories for me to enjoy, along with pvp and space combat ( I do very few side quests once I have a max level character of each faction)

 

Anyways, there are plenty of ways to make this and any game out there better, both from a personal standpoint and from a ideology standpoint! i.e. pvp'ers want one thing, rp'ers another, casuals another

 

To each there own!

 

For the record, I love this game but realize its shortcomings. It needed 6mos to a year more of development before full release. I am confident however that Bioware will move quickly in the right direction despite the naysayers. Hopefully by the time I am done with my 8 base class stories they will have done many of things I had hoped would be done at launch.

[CrondorStone]

ah well, what do you expect, when you rush to 50, and then you rushed through all the end game operations and Flashpoints including nightmare modes in less then 2 months time? No developer can create enough content for people like you that can complete everything in less then 2 months.

 

This is such a great reply. So I work 2 jobs, go to school, and play this game for a couple hours a day. Those that play 8-16hours a day should not complain how they "run out" of content.

[MackSevenThree]

100% agree with OP

 

And those those who say, MMO's arn't for you if you can't deal with the repetition because that is how all MMO's are - get real, nothing would ever change if this were the case.

 

The biggest draw back to MMO's is the technology that forces them to make compromises for the environment for multiple players vs. single player games.

 

Innovate someone... please.

[Toenailx]

I just love spending all day in Illum...for a daily..................................................

[Relith]

There is no grind in this game.

Just because it involves grinding quests instead of random mobs does not make it anything less than a grind. Do some other games have longer grinding? Sure. I will agree with you, this game has less of a grind than probably any mmorpg ive ever played, but it is still a grind nevertheless. And in fact, if this game had more of a grind, people would be complaining a lot less about the lack of an end game. Bioware has in fact, done themselves a disservice by caving to a quicker grind and almost instant purple gear once reaching level 50. Does it take you a while to get everything best in slot? Sure, you need to rip augs off of other classes armor. But, upon reaching level 50 you can go purple in every slot in one evening via pvp gear and a single raid. I know because I've done it without even buying anything from the ah.

 

 

You are kidding, right? Everquest? You are holding Everquest up as the Icon of gaming perfection? Your idea of fun is camping a spot endlessly killing the same mob over and over and over, losing xp, levels if you die? One death voiding 5 hours of camping?....or is it camping lower GUK, where the first typing you do is "camp check?".

 

Back in the day, people called it Evercamp. Today its the Iconoclastic glint of perfection?

 

....or is it that some people will complain no matter what? ;p

 

I used Everquest as an example of what I have been willing to put up with in the past, and still do to this day from time to time (I play the eq classic server occasionally for the last few years). I am not holding up EQ as some pinnacle of gaming, it has its own problems, I am just saying that I have done grinding and know it on a first name basis. With everything EQ has done wrong, I still would prefer EQ style grinding over the SWTOR style quest grinding....especially the stupid dailies. Grinding out solo quests is antisocial in the extreme. Even if I find a friend to group with, who says he will be at the same stage of progression as me, etc.

 

Just is my personal opinion is all, feel free to disagree, as you already have. If anything, it sounds like you are the one who goes out of your way to *****, I was just offering my opinion on the limitations of the quest grinding system. Not that I expect it to matter, because it has become the mmo norm these days as everything has become cookie cutter and sterile in gaming as a whole.

Edited February 19, 2012 by Relith

[Maidel]

Most of the posters in this thread don't understand I have a level 50 and 41 character. I barely log on and do one level every day or two. So if you think rushing is doing one level every day, maybe MMOS aren't for you. Maybe you should stick to taking care of your 12 kids and working your long CEO hours.

 

I have to call utter total **** on this statement.

 

If you have two characters for a total of 91 levels (50+41) then you have been levelling at roughly 1.5 levels a day since early access.

 

Therefore you simply cannot log in 'every day or two' and do 'one level'.

 

Its not rushing to be at 50 now. I have logged in every day or two as time allowed and done a level or two which is all time allows. Im a regular working person with a child and a wife and Im currently level 46. I didnt have early access time, didnt get the game till the 26th December and I missed a weekend as I was away. Otherwise I would be at 50 and just finished the class quests.

[Criosdh]

There is no grind in this game.

 

 

 

 

You are kidding, right? Everquest? You are holding Everquest up as the Icon of gaming perfection? Your idea of fun is camping a spot endlessly killing the same mob over and over and over, losing xp, levels if you die? One death voiding 5 hours of camping?....or is it camping lower GUK, where the first typing you do is "camp check?".

 

Back in the day, people called it Evercamp. Today its the Iconoclastic glint of perfection?

 

....or is it that some people will complain no matter what? ;p

 

On paper I agree with you. (IE when you talk about it you sound correct).

 

However I subscribed longer to a mob grind MMORPG (DAoC) longer than I have any MMO since. If you factor in that i had 3 accounts over nearly 6 years in DAoC and I haven't subscribed for more than 3 months at a time to any other MMO since then I'd probably be a hypocrit for agreeing with you.

 

Say what you will, even when it sounds pretty convincing to me, the old school MMOs must have had something going for them in their formula because you had several major MMOs all running the same formula (EQ, UO, AC, DAoC) that were all highly successful in a much smaller market, that have maintained a much higher subscription base per capita, and have had much longer lifespans than I see any of these newer MMOs having.

 

Those old school MMOs that involved more grind, more patience, more effort, etc may not have the "buy in" (initial sales) power that the new hype machines have had but they never went from 60 to 4 servers in a year like the newer games (Warhammer, AoC) that rely on instant gratification to please it's audience. In fact DAoC was adding servers well after launch.

 

The less people have to invest in something the less invested in it they are come subscription time or at least that's what the history of the genre seems to imply.

[mutharex]

This is such a great reply. So I work 2 jobs, go to school, and play this game for a couple hours a day. Those that play 8-16hours a day should not complain how they "run out" of content.

 

They should get off the dole, more likely...

[Darth_Urtani]

I kind of have to agree.

 

My first playthrough they were fun, but any other time I replayed, they were BORING.

 

In WoW they didn't seem boring, but in SWTOR they do, I don't know why.

[Ethern]

I kind of have to agree.

 

My first playthrough they were fun, but any other time I replayed, they were BORING.

 

In WoW they didn't seem boring, but in SWTOR they do, I don't know why.

Probably because not only the side quests are imposed and disrupts the interesting part, aka your class story, but also do not benefit from the same polishing of those class quests, apart the Taris chain (imperial side).

[Darth_Urtani]

Probably because not only the side quests are imposed and disrupts the interesting part, aka your class story, but also do not benefit from the same polishing of those class quests, apart the Taris chain (imperial side).

 

You're probably right.

[Tairak]

Say what you will, even when it sounds pretty convincing to me, the old school MMOs must have had something going for them in their formula because you had several major MMOs all running the same formula (EQ, UO, AC, DAoC) that were all highly successful in a much smaller market, that have maintained a much higher subscription base per capita, and have had much longer lifespans than I see any of these newer MMOs having.

 

I guess to a large part that was because it at that time it was awesome in itself to play with other people over the internet.

That was before every game had an online multiplayer part, those games had their height at a time where you went to a LAN Party if you want to play against other players (and didn´t like splitscreen).

 

At least for me that was a large part of the fascination of Daoc. I, too, played it for three years, from the release to the start of wow. I still love that game but i also remember that much of the actual playing was really boring. But playing with other people was great and that was enough for me at that time.

In nowadays i have higher expectations to my games.

[XkentuckyboyX]

I think there's one point that people are missing.

 

Single Player RPG's are more fun, even though the quests can essentially be boiled down to the same things, because they are challenging.

 

Challenge, and a sense of danger is what makes exploring those ruins fun in a SRPG. When I first started playing Skyrim, I nervously creeped through the dungeons in that game. I didn't know what lay in wait around the next bend or in the next room of the dungeon. I didn't know if there were traps that could seriously injure or even kill me. I knew that if I died, I'd have to reload the game and start over, sometimes losing 5-10 minutes. Also, the sound effects, lighting, and ambience in dungeons and even in the world made exploring feel dangerous.

 

In SWTOR and MMORPG's in general ever since WoW became popular, there isn't any danger or challenge during the majority of the game. Most of the game you can faceroll through. I don't recall ever coming across any traps, aside from the Collicoid Wargames FP, which I enjoyed. In SWTOR, I didn't even bother with the side quests on my alts. I just did the class quests, and even though I was usually 3 levels below the level suggested, I still was able to complete them, and get through the mobs on the way to the class quests, which were anywhere from 2-4 levels higher than me. You don't ever feel like you're in danger when you're able to kill Strong enemies 3-4 levels higher than you.

 

The sound effects, ambience, lighting, and so on in SWTOR does nothing to make you sit on the edge of your seat.

 

Questing in SWTOR is just extremely boring and grindy, which is why I'm not subbing anymore. It's not just SWTOR either; almost all MMORPG's are like this and those that aren't are over a decade old and I've already played them to death.

 

I remember exploring dungeons in DAoC with a group and the music and eery sounds alone made you feel you were in danger. Nevermind the fact that you actually "were" in danger, because it didn't take much to pull more than your group could handle, plus you had to worry about respawns or trains of mobs from other groups that were running for their lifes after enough of their members died.

Edited February 20, 2012 by XkentuckyboyX

[Elkard]

Stick with your single player console/PC games. MMOs are not for you.

[Cerion]

I'm sure one day MMORPGs will get back to it's routes when they were not mindless ..... completely mindless..... mindless..............mindless..................

 

lets be honest a 5 year old could figure out how to play this game.

 

Wha? I played EQ1, and it was the very definition of mindless. Mindless grinding, grinding, grinding until I wanted to gouge my eyes out with a dull spork.

 

If MMOs ever go back to those roots, it'll be the end of the genre.

[Nozybidaj]

The majority of Skyrim's quests are the same 3-4 types. Every RPG will have that. You can't have 1000's of quests all with tremendous variety.

 

I agree, the problem is context. The trick is to wrap those boring kill X errands in a context through quest dialog and direction. The main problem I see with TOR is the lack of alternative leveling paths. Every single alt you ever make does exactly all the same side quests every single time.

 

Typically other MMO games your elves start over here, and your dwarves start over here, and your humans start over there, and then by the time you start reaching mid levels (20, 30, 40) they'll start to converge, and even then still offer occasional alternatives. In TOR by level 5 every single character is on the same set leveling path to 50. Even switching factions only helps minimally as you still visit the same planets and fight the same enemies.

 

That it what has greatly contributed to me personally in reinforcing the repetitiveness of the game.

[Dillingor]

Any way you slice it, this is the type of quest you'll see in games. Yes WoW has "bombing runs" if you can really call them that. There were maybe 2-3 of those, and they were just you clicking a single button throwing bombs down to...you guessed it...kill x amount of mobs.

 

 

This is part of the genre. The improvements in swtor are giving you CONTEXT to doing these tasks. They do that well with the voice acting and cut scenes and each planet having its own arching storyline along with your class quest, however space barring through the quest texts takes away from this.

[Cerion]

EQ mindless you say?

 

is that why without Alakazams community you could not and would have never found the vendors needed to collect your spells?

 

or how about the method of questing an epic weapon?

 

SWTOR is a joke get real

 

That was part of the flaw of EQ...you had to go to external sites to progress in that game. That is a failure. All of that information should have been readily available within the game itself.

 

That is one design element that WoW capitalized on. Much of the information and feedback was provided within the game context -- which made the game easier to access.

[Deewe]

That was part of the flaw of EQ...you had to go to external sites to progress in that game. That is a failure. All of that information should have been readily available within the game itself.

 

That is one design element that WoW capitalized on. Much of the information and feedback was provided within the game context -- which made the game easier to access.

Reminds me SWG.

 

The max price on the AH made it so players traded on the forums, it was a big mess.

[Cerion]

On paper I agree with you. (IE when you talk about it you sound correct).

 

However I subscribed longer to a mob grind MMORPG (DAoC) longer than I have any MMO since. If you factor in that i had 3 accounts over nearly 6 years in DAoC and I haven't subscribed for more than 3 months at a time to any other MMO since then I'd probably be a hypocrit for agreeing with you.

 

Say what you will, even when it sounds pretty convincing to me, the old school MMOs must have had something going for them in their formula because you had several major MMOs all running the same formula (EQ, UO, AC, DAoC) that were all highly successful in a much smaller market, that have maintained a much higher subscription base per capita, and have had much longer lifespans than I see any of these newer MMOs having.

 

Those old school MMOs that involved more grind, more patience, more effort, etc may not have the "buy in" (initial sales) power that the new hype machines have had but they never went from 60 to 4 servers in a year like the newer games (Warhammer, AoC) that rely on instant gratification to please it's audience. In fact DAoC was adding servers well after launch.

 

The less people have to invest in something the less invested in it they are come subscription time or at least that's what the history of the genre seems to imply.

 

But the obvious flaw in your analysis is that EQ and every other MMO at that time was nearly impenetrable. They were games for grognards...early adapters. World of Warcraft has proven that the EQ style of game is antiquated, anachronistic. The only thing these games had going for them was exclusivity. They were the only kids on the block, they were new, so people played them.

 

Henry Ford sold hundreds of thousands of Model Ts. Nobody in their right mind would start up a Model T factory these days. YOu may be 80 years old, and have fond memories of your Model T, but that doesn't mean the cars today are worse. In fact, they are objectively better in many ways.

[Blacktongue]

Yes it does.

[fungihoujo]

All I needed to do was read your title to know this is your first mmo.

[Aram_Darksun]

Re: first few responses and the countless more to come:

And the bioware defense force strikes!

 

Let me guess, you are the vanguard of the Bioware haters assault force?

 

See how condscending that is?

 

Here is a novel idea, try taking any argument at face value, debate the points instead of denigrating the person and their stance, think for yourself instead of dropping the fashionable 'fanboy' bomb and generally just act like an adult.

 

For the record, rather ammusingly I have been called both a fan and a hater so both 'sides' are guilty. Outside of the polarized ad hominems and in the real world most people believe there are good points and bad points about this game. If you exist at either end of this spectrum then chances are, you are either a hater or a fanboy but labelling someone because you see them raise one point in defence or attack of Bioware is ignorant at best.

 

Just to clarify, I do believe having a LARGELY positive or negative opinion of this game is valid, I am talking about more extreme than that.

 

As for the main topic, if you boil a quest down to such fundamentals you can describe the majority of every quest in every game with such a simple description.

 

I actually find ToR very good on having variety in quests. Is it perfect? Hell no, but it is better than any other mmo I have played. I find it hard to see how people can get the reverse impression.

Edited February 20, 2012 by Aram_Darksun

[Thorun]

Let me guess, you are the vanguard of the Bioware haters assault force?

 

See how condscending that is?

 

Here is a novel idea, try taking any argument at face value, debate the points instead of denigrating the person and their stance, think for yourself instead of dropping the fashionable 'fanboy' bomb and generally just act like an adult.

 

For the record, rather ammusingly I have been called both a fan and a hater so both 'sides' are guilty. Outside of the polarized ad hominems and in the real world most people believe there are good points and bad points about this game. If you exist at either end of this spectrum then chances are, you are either a hater or a fanboy but labelling someone because you see them raise one point in defence or attack of Bioware is ignorant at best.

 

Just to clarify, I do believe having a LARGELY positive or negative opinion of this game is valid, I am talking about more extreme than that.

 

As for the main topic, if you boil a quest down to such fundamentals you can describe the majority of every quest in every game with such a simple description.

 

I actually find ToR very good on having variety in quests. Is it perfect? Hell no, but it is better than any other mmo I have played. I find it hard to see how people can get the reverse impression.

 

Let ME guess that youre a drone in the fanboi defense force?

[Enkenon]

Seriously

If there is one thing that this game has nailed and does better that all it's current competitors is the single player quests and side quests.

 

:confused::confused::confused::confused:

It is natural to be bored of the side quest design given the

variety and imaginative side quests of all the other current mmos.

WoW?you never get to do repeatable stuff.Every side quest is

a new adventure.

Rift?as above

Any other mmo?as above

But the best there ever was and will be if I might say was Hello Kitty.

You just can't beat that.