SnapWolf Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Was it really needed to make it that we had to talk to some random NPC at the Fleet? I mean. We go talk to some Vendor... and that's it? Bam. Now go back to the Holoterminal/Intercom in your ship. I mean... I expected to do more. Have some discussion with my companions or something. The fact that I wasted 5 minutes of my time to get back to the Fleet and talk to some random dude, and getting nothing? I feel violated, man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OmegaMayhem Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Time sink. /thread Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gonewild Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Was it really needed to make it that we had to talk to some random NPC at the Fleet? I mean. We go talk to some Vendor... and that's it? Bam. Now go back to the Holoterminal/Intercom in your ship. I mean... I expected to do more. Have some discussion with my companions or something. The fact that I wasted 5 minutes of my time to get back to the Fleet and talk to some random dude, and getting nothing? I feel violated, man. I'm not going to go all Penny Arcade on the subject. I just accept that it is a time sink (and some dev is probably laughing while watching me run the maze for story cheese. The speechless npc you have to interact with at the space station is silly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanquind Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 It's bioware's cheap *** strategy to put time sinks in the game. Long travel times, and basically pointless travels to your ship/the fleet. That and trash mobs littered all over everywhere. Which is, in my opinion, very bad game design. I think that if you removed the long travel times and pointless walks you could get to level 50 in 2/3 of the time that it takes now. Then also remove the trash mobs that are clearly just there to be a time sink, and I bet you could get to level 50 in 1/2 the time. Don't get me wrong, I love this game. But small annoyances like this combined with upcoming changes that pander to the whiners/lazy asses, I don't think I will keep playing swtor... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FenraelWolfmien Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 (edited) That and trash mobs littered all over everywhere. Heh. The roads in SWTOR are safer than downtown Philly at 2 am. eta: That interlude NPC did feel like an unnecessary obscene gesture. That and being unable to use your fleet pass, but actually having to point your ship to fleet in the star map while at another location. Edited February 22, 2012 by FenraelWolfmien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morpholinium Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 It could be worse. We could be forced to "actually R&R" by the guy sending us on a long chain of pointless gossip conversations with various NPCs spread around the fleet. They could call the quest chain "Scuttlebutt". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dwyer Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 (edited) It's bioware's cheap *** strategy to put time sinks in the game. Long travel times, and basically pointless travels to your ship/the fleet. That and trash mobs littered all over everywhere. Which is, in my opinion, very bad game design. I think that if you removed the long travel times and pointless walks you could get to level 50 in 2/3 of the time that it takes now. Then also remove the trash mobs that are clearly just there to be a time sink, and I bet you could get to level 50 in 1/2 the time. Don't get me wrong, I love this game. But small annoyances like this combined with upcoming changes that pander to the whiners/lazy asses, I don't think I will keep playing swtor... To what end? Power through the content and then make a flame post on the forums about how the game is so boring when you blew through all the content as fast as possible? I understand that sometimes running places out of the way can feel a little annoying, but traveling to a couple of zones to talk to an NPC in between acts is hardly that big of a pain. And eliminating creatures in the world to accommodate people who want to blow through content as fast as possible seems counter intuitive. You can say time sink all you want, but in the end, if you view it as a time sink, this may not be the game you want to play. If the journey is just a time sink to you, and not interesting, plowing through the content to get to max level is likely not going to fix anything. Burning through 49 levels of content as fast as possible to get to the last level of content is just silly anyways, IMHO. Edited February 22, 2012 by Dwyer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aloro Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 I don't think it's a time sink. I think it's a narrative device that was handled poorly. The idea is that our characters return to their respective fleets and take a little time off. What we do during this time isn't important; it's up to us. That's why there isn't any quest to complete. I think it was handled poorly though overall. I'd have liked to see a little text, and some reference to my relaxing. Have the quest giver suggest I get a drink at the cantina - whatever. The point is, there ought to be something, however trivial, to remind us of the narrative purpose in our trip (R&R). The way most players approach this is likely no different from how they approach most quests; they find the objective, click on it, then move on to the next objective. That's perfectly reasonable, but doesn't work well with quests like this where the player is instructed to do their own relaxing. Some feedback in game would improve things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
braininajar Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 I don't know about the rest of you, but speaking from experience, I don't think its just a "lol spend more time playing" trick. The trips to the fleet seem to serve two functions: 1-Pacing Every good story, even action-packed ones, need a little downtime to let the audience breathe. For those who play through the story at its "intended" pace, this breaks up the action into manageable chunks. There's nothing pulling you to the next planet, there's no one that needs saving, no imminent crises that need your attention, nothing urgent nagging you at the back of your mind to go and do. Even if you're not playing "for the story", the pacing is for you guys too. Gives you a chance between acts to gather your thoughts, rework your spec, or check on things you were too busy leveling to check on. 2-Catching Up Once you're on a planet or series of planets, whether you're trying to level fast or take in the story, you want to have as little interruption in the flow of the missions/story arc you're on as possible. So, you don't necessarily send your companions on missions immediately after they return. Maybe you don't immediately check on new rewards you might now be eligible for thanks to going up in alignment/social points. Or maybe you've just got a ton of companion gifts and don't want to sit for an hour giving them all away. One way or another, if you're not obsessively keeping up with every little thing, something's going to get backed up, fall behind, or otherwise get pushed to the side. These breaks between acts are the perfect time to catch yourself up when there's no pressing business to drag you away. Now is the time to put on some music while you catch up on crafting, play the Market a bit, spend any extra commendations, etc. This is usually when I give away all my companion gifts, so its when I usually get all my companion conversations done. In short, there does seem to be a legitimate design decision behind it-giving players a short break from the constant action to either take a breather or catch up on things. I'll admit, it confused me at first too, but now that I've been through at least part of a couple stories, I can see the value of it. This bit might just be me, but I've gotten into the habit of hitting the fleet between individual planets too, so what's one more NPC to talk to if I was going to go anyway? I will concede that the reasons I've said above, if they are the case, could be made more transparent through the mission dialogue. I also understand that it can be an inconvenience to do this if you don't have anything you need to do on the fleet. I will suggest however to take your commander/sith master/employer's advice and use that time to restock supplies and catch up on things you've missed before talking to the "back to action" NPC and you might see what I mean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meldwyn Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 To what end? Power through the content and then make a flame post on the forums about how the game is so boring when you blew through all the content as fast as possible? I understand that sometimes running places out of the way can feel a little annoying, but traveling to a couple of zones to talk to an NPC in between acts is hardly that big of a pain. And eliminating creatures in the world to accommodate people who want to blow through content as fast as possible seems counter intuitive. You can say time sink all you want, but in the end, if you view it as a time sink, this may not be the game you want to play. If the journey is just a time sink to you, and not interesting, plowing through the content to get to max level is likely not going to fix anything. Burning through 49 levels of content as fast as possible to get to the last level of content is just silly anyways, IMHO. I dont know why, but i have the impression that you have absolutely no issues with SW. Everything BW put in or left out is just THE BOMB to you. Right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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