dalekjs Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 Hi! While I do love TOR, I have some massive problems with the side quests in this game, especially since the game was touted as the most story driven mmo ever. I got the game, like many others I'm sure, when BW said that it was basically Kotor 3 (to 10) in mmo form. While this is true imo, the writing for side quests is so below the level of writing you're getting when doing class quests it's kind of jarring. While the class quests are all well written and well acted (the ones I played at least, can't vouch for all of them yet ), and the main planet quests are usually good as well, the side quests scattered between them are usually just rip offs of the same basic forumla. It's always some form of "X are being lame meanie pants go kill dem plz" scattered many times over every single planet. While there are exceptions (such as the ones on Kaas, and the Jedi Jawas on Tatooine), a lot of them are that basic forumla, and it annoys me because: 1. It's voice acted. Listening to different people going on and on about how stupid and annoying the republic is can get really grating. Sure, you can skip the dialogue, but if that's going to be an instant reaction why have them voice acted in the first place? It's just a waste of money having every single quest giver voice acting, especially if said quest wasn't all that interesting to begin with. They could replace every one of them with a quest terminal that says go derp for some herp items and xp, and I don't think anyone would care much. If they had the same quality as the class and planet quests, it wouldn't be a problem. 2. They don't tell you what rewards you would get. As it stands, it's very very easy to outlevel the planet you're on by as much as 5 levels, so doing all the quests on one planet isn't necessary. They could tell me what items I would receive if I completed one derp quest, so I would know if it's worth it. It gets annoying when I do a quest that I had no interest in for an item I don't need, which leads me to: 3. Placement. Granted, my second point is negated by the placement of derp quests, which tbh are usually pretty close to where you should be to do your class quest, but sometimes they get some really annoying placements. One example comes to mind is a bonus quest on Taris. I forgot what its name is, but the bonus quest is pretty much spread across the map. Worse still, they decided to place final part of the bonus in a heroic area... Why would you do that? If that wasn't bad enough, they placed it in a heroic area with a wondering champion, and right next ti the world boss. This just screams bad design. I'm aware that my 2nd and 3rd points can be refuted easily, but my main point is that I really don't see why these derp quests need to be voice acted. It's just a waste of time, and a waste of budget. There are a ton of these, and probably cost a ton of cash to voice. I can think of multiple ways that the money spent on voicing derp quests that no one cares about could be put to better use. Say, hiring better writers to make the derp quests less herp. TL;DR: 1. Plot of class quest and planet quest are offset by very plain side quests 2. Voicing these side quests is a waste of money 3. Come up with better more interesting side quests, or save money and don't voice them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth_Bond Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 Hi! While I do love TOR, I have some massive problems with the side quests in this game, especially since the game was touted as the most story driven mmo ever. I got the game, like many others I'm sure, when BW said that it was basically Kotor 3 (to 10) in mmo form. While this is true imo, the writing for side quests is so below the level of writing you're getting when doing class quests it's kind of jarring. While the class quests are all well written and well acted (the ones I played at least, can't vouch for all of them yet ), and the main planet quests are usually good as well, the side quests scattered between them are usually just rip offs of the same basic forumla. It's always some form of "X are being lame meanie pants go kill dem plz" scattered many times over every single planet. While there are exceptions (such as the ones on Kaas, and the Jedi Jawas on Tatooine), a lot of them are that basic forumla, and it annoys me because: 1. It's voice acted. Listening to different people going on and on about how stupid and annoying the republic is can get really grating. Sure, you can skip the dialogue, but if that's going to be an instant reaction why have them voice acted in the first place? It's just a waste of money having every single quest giver voice acting, especially if said quest wasn't all that interesting to begin with. They could replace every one of them with a quest terminal that says go derp for some herp items and xp, and I don't think anyone would care much. If they had the same quality as the class and planet quests, it wouldn't be a problem. 2. They don't tell you what rewards you would get. As it stands, it's very very easy to outlevel the planet you're on by as much as 5 levels, so doing all the quests on one planet isn't necessary. They could tell me what items I would receive if I completed one derp quest, so I would know if it's worth it. It gets annoying when I do a quest that I had no interest in for an item I don't need, which leads me to: 3. Placement. Granted, my second point is negated by the placement of derp quests, which tbh are usually pretty close to where you should be to do your class quest, but sometimes they get some really annoying placements. One example comes to mind is a bonus quest on Taris. I forgot what its name is, but the bonus quest is pretty much spread across the map. Worse still, they decided to place final part of the bonus in a heroic area... Why would you do that? If that wasn't bad enough, they placed it in a heroic area with a wondering champion, and right next ti the world boss. This just screams bad design. I'm aware that my 2nd and 3rd points can be refuted easily, but my main point is that I really don't see why these derp quests need to be voice acted. It's just a waste of time, and a waste of budget. There are a ton of these, and probably cost a ton of cash to voice. I can think of multiple ways that the money spent on voicing derp quests that no one cares about could be put to better use. Say, hiring better writers to make the derp quests less herp. TL;DR: 1. Plot of class quest and planet quest are offset by very plain side quests 2. Voicing these side quests is a waste of money 3. Come up with better more interesting side quests, or save money and don't voice them. agreed! after you've levelled through one faction once, maybe twice, those side quests where theres no original story, just get dreary and horribly boring. and they are clearly NOT story driven. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Korghal Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 2. They don't tell you what rewards you would get. As it stands, it's very very easy to outlevel the planet you're on by as much as 5 levels, so doing all the quests on one planet isn't necessary. They could tell me what items I would receive if I completed one derp quest, so I would know if it's worth it. It gets annoying when I do a quest that I had no interest in for an item I don't need... I couldnt agree with you more! Even tho most of the players does almost every quest this is something they should have thought of. Its abundantly clear they have never designed an MMO before, with that being said i still think they did a great overall job. With a few small changes to UI, bug fixes and some minor changes for the hardcore players this game will actually turn out into a triple A mmo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanarchy Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 (edited) go derp for some herp items Go back to Reddit. The voice acting is good, and I enjoy it. Sorry your opinion varies. But that is one of the things that makes this game not just a WoW clone. And I enjoy not knowing the rewards. If I did, I would skip the ones without 'good' rewards, and then I'd be behind the leveling curve, and I'd miss out on exploring the world. Everything you're complaining about, I like, even on alts for the 4th time. BW said that it was basically Kotor 3 (to 10) in mmo form. citation needed Edited March 5, 2012 by Lanarchy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalekjs Posted March 5, 2012 Author Share Posted March 5, 2012 (edited) agreed! after you've levelled through one faction once, maybe twice, those side quests where theres no original story, just get dreary and horribly boring. and they are clearly NOT story driven. I'd also argue that these quests get dreary and boring after act 1 on your first playthrough. You've seen them once, you've seen them all really. Go back to Reddit. The voice acting is good, and I enjoy it. Sorry your opinion varies. But that is one of the things that makes this game not just a WoW clone. Did you read my post? I did say that I love the voice acting, a lot even. I love the plots that I've played through, but these quests have no business being voice acted. Just having 8 different plots for every character makes this game not a WoW clone, so not having voice acting for the plainest of quests wouldn't really hurt it. Also - That's a South Park meme. Edit: And I enjoy not knowing the rewards. If I did, I would skip the ones without 'good' rewards, and then I'd be behind the leveling curve, and I'd miss out on exploring the world. Everything you're complaining about, I like, even on alts for the 4th time. My point is, it's almost impossible to *not* be over levelled for any planet. Except if you're incredibly lazy, I don't think there's any way to be underleveled, ever. Since you should be overleveled and will already explore most of the planet doing your class and planet quests, I think telling you what you'd be getting when you go do the "kill ten people" quest would help me decide whether to do it or not. If you're underleveled, that shouldn't affect your choice at all, since you'd want to gain xp. I donno how you can actively listen to those quests for four times, but more power to you. Edited March 5, 2012 by dalekjs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackardin Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 While I do love TOR, I have some massive problems with the side quests in this game, especially since the game was touted as the most story driven mmo ever. I got the game, like many others I'm sure, when BW said that it was basically Kotor 3 (to 10) in mmo form. While this is true imo, the writing for side quests is so below the level of writing you're getting when doing class quests it's kind of jarring. How far do we go with spoon feeding people? If you don't like to do side quests, do other things. Do space missions. Space dailies and missions are great xp and credits. I've leveled just doing space misisons when I wanted a change from side quests. Do flashpoints, Do heroics. Go out exploring and looking for your datacrons. Go out and farm mats for your crafting. You can gain quite a bit of xp by just killing mobs to get to nodes. Then you can sell the mats. Do all of them so you can enjoy some diversity. Point is that no one is forcing you to do side quests, and there is plenty of other things to do. If someone is not having fun leveling in this game its more or less their own choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalekjs Posted March 5, 2012 Author Share Posted March 5, 2012 How far do we go with spoon feeding people? If you don't like to do side quests, do other things. Do space missions. Space dailies and missions are great xp and credits. I've leveled just doing space misisons when I wanted a change from side quests. Do flashpoints, Do heroics. Go out exploring and looking for your datacrons. Go out and farm mats for your crafting. You can gain quite a bit of xp by just killing mobs to get to nodes. Then you can sell the mats. Do all of them so you can enjoy some diversity. Point is that no one is forcing you to do side quests, and there is plenty of other things to do. If someone is not having fun leveling in this game its more or less their own choice. I know no one is making me do them, that's not my point. My point is, for a story driven mmo, a lot of these quests are horribly written. I got into TOR for the story, so for me it's disappointing that a lot of quests on every planet consist of "Blaarg I hate republics go blow them up with this detonator." As I said in my reply above you, I'm usually overleveled (by doing what you listed) and I don't see how people can be underleveled in this game. It's just that, from a story standpoint, these quests are disappointing. Also - how is telling you what rewards you'd get spoonfeeding? If you're overleveled - You get to decide whether a generic quest is worth it. If you're underleveled - You're going to do the quest anyway to not be underleveled, so no harm in seeing what kind of goodies you'd get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaphik Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 Think of the main story class as your life outside of work, and the side quests as your job or school. Your life outside job or school is almost always more exciting and engaging than work or school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zarrot Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 My main complaint with quests and side quest is that I expected some of them to influence or unlock things later in the game. The best example I could think of was the Revenite quest on Dromund Cas. I assumed on my first play through that becoming a Revanite or not would come up again later. I was disappointed that it really meant very little and never came up again (except for a throwaway line in Foundry). It would be nice if these decisions meant more or came up on other planets. As for side quests, they are part of MMO's. They are little things to do along the way to main quests. If every quest was a super complicated story quest this game would never have released. These quests are mostly filler. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalekjs Posted March 5, 2012 Author Share Posted March 5, 2012 Think of the main story class as your life outside of work, and the side quests as your job or school. Your life outside job or school is almost always more exciting and engaging than work or school. While that is the case, I don't see why it should be. Again, I don't *need* to do them, and I know that, but still disappointed that the stories in these quests are not up to par. My main complaint with quests and side quest is that I expected some of them to influence or unlock things later in the game. The best example I could think of was the Revenite quest on Dromund Cas. I assumed on my first play through that becoming a Revanite or not would come up again later. I was disappointed that it really meant very little and never came up again (except for a throwaway line in Foundry). It would be nice if these decisions meant more or came up on other planets. As for side quests, they are part of MMO's. They are little things to do along the way to main quests. If every quest was a super complicated story quest this game would never have released. These quests are mostly filler. I assumed that would be the case, since it would be hard to have long term consequences for an mmo. I don't want every quest to have a super complicated story. I just wanted them to be more interesting. Take for example the jedi jawa quest on Tatooine. That one isn't complicated, but it was incredibly interesting because it offered something new and exciting! Can Jawas really use the force? Maybe it's a trick? If it is a trick how are they doing it? This quest was incredibly fun because it offered something new, and made you interested in doing it. Another quest (or two actually) also on Tatooine were the ones offered by the two Duros brothers. Those two were hilarious, and I loved how my character would assume that they were the same person. My main reasoning is I don't see why a plot driven game can't have more interesting side-quests like the ones I listed. They are side quests still, I understand that, but more variety than the generic imperial who wants you to go kill stuff would have been served the game better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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