Five things you need to know about The Old Republic's Future [ARTICLE]

[asbalana]

The only mistakes they admitted to are the ones that 100% of the community know is obvious.

 

But if there's disagreement in the community they don't admit making a mistake. PvP lag is not mentioned because there is disagreement that it's a problem. Of course I laugh at those that claim they have no problem with lag in Ilum. Sorry, but even getting 25 fps is a problem.

 

I have an I5-2500K, Asus Pro-Gen3 board, 16g Corsair Vengence Ram, EVGA 560TI, and a 128g Corsair Performance Pro SSD with both Windows 7 Home and the entire game installed on it. I even set up a 5 gig ramdrive and moved the diskcachearena file and the main asset files on it and the best I can get is around 15-20 fps during large battles and it's very choppy. It is barely playable. I can only imagine how bad it is for people with less.

 

Everyone should know by know that the engine design, in conjuction with the crappy cache system and rendering freezing (which you can see every time an objective is capped or just by jumping in the air and opening your character window) is not something that is going to get fixed any time soon because of the massive amount of redesign that would be needed.

 

Until that issue is resolved, they can throw in content all they want but it's not going to be enough for a lot of people because large scale pvp is not going to happen.

 

I have to agree with the concept of this post althought I do not know the reasons for the issues.

 

I think that the two main and defining problems with the game were not touched on. They are the quality and flow of combat and the way the game runs poorly on different platforms.

 

Combat is still broken and the main "ability delay" issues have not bee resolved and are now out of the realm of discussion. Abilities still misfire or do not fire at all. A "hit" can occur and yet damage is not registered for a few seconds and some times not at all. You can hit a key and not have the spell cast for time. It is not unusual to have a mob with zero health on it's health bar continue to fight and hit you and then drop a few seconds later. And so on. The combat is not close to the quality and smoothness found in other games.

 

Many players have performance issues on their rigs and experience significant fps drops or yoyoing as they play. People with good / quality rigs who can play any other game / mmo on high with good fps can have bad results in swtor. People experience card heating issues in this game and yet see it no where else.

 

These issues are key and I am not hopeful with respect to their resolution. New and more content, expanded legacy system, guild goodies, some bug fixes, etc., etc., etc. are nice but the game needs a fix to these basic issues to make any other changes have value. Otherwise you are improving a structure built on a bad foundation.

[Blackardin]

For a development team that knows so much about their many faults why the hell would u launch such a broken and unpolished game? Good intentions and knowing your mistakes mean nothing in this business without action.

 

You should probably learn a little bit about marketing and investment, and the life cycle of a MMROPG. Had nothing to do with "good intentions", but more a sound business plan.

[Blackardin]

A good read, but I have to agree that the whole point #2 with bugs they admitted, was reported during beta testing, and still did not get fixed.

 

Some people blame the testers, but the truth is that thise issues was reported on test forum, then ignored. This game would have been better, if biowere had listened to the testers.

 

For me, 1.2 will be make or break, either they get their **** sorted or I am out of here and will never return. A long line of faliures for Biowere now. DA2, ME3 and now TOR?..

 

They need to shape up..

 

---

 

 

Addendum: The only reason why PvP is so popular is because your PvE content is broken, boring and to easy. There is litterly ZERO to do in this game post level 50, so OFC people PvP.. But I guess the DEV's say: WOW people are pvping we must have done something right in that area. Well no. You ****ed up in PvE so people are playing the only content that is worth a damm in this game atm: PvP

 

You have so many resources with which to work. You have investors looking for their first return. You have a deadline in which you have to prioritize certain aspects of the project over others.

 

Goodness, are we doing third grade economics here, or just pulling complaints out of our back sides?

[Blackardin]

This is a thing that a lot of people don't understand about software development. Sometimes you just have to shove the game out the door instead of tacking on more features, otherwise you end up with a Duke Nukem Forever.

 

That said, there are still a few things that should have been added or dealt with before the game was released.

 

 

LOL, there are very few here that understand anything about MMORPGs, let alone software development or business plans. LOL

[mdkmaster]

No, that's not a "point." That's a pointless "gripe." Usually, for something to have a point, it has to be of consequence. That stuff wasn't in the game despite whatever yadda yadda and even though it should've been and blah blah blah. OH WELL...it wasn't in there. It's coming though. It's going to be fixed though. So what does this really change to point out that you feel it shoudl've been there in the first place? Nothing...absolutely nothing. Maybe you can argue that a small miniority of really really uptight crybabies might unsub. Yep...unsub right when it's been made quite readily apparent that the issues they have are being addressed, and alot of them will be fixed within a month or so. Because you know what? "You might be fixing it, but I have such a sad over it not being the way I wanted when released/launched that I don't care you're fixing it soon." And then what...they'll come crawling back when it's all been fixed/addressed and the game is growing. Seriously. "Should've been in at launch"? WHO CARES?

 

People like you are the reason why products get released in such a poor state. Maybe if people like you had standards, this game wouldn't look so much like a pile of stale dog ****.

 

Personally I don't care if its EA's fault, or Bioware's fault. To put it bluntly, they ****ed up. They went for raw sales, at the expense of continuing subs. On the face this seems like a wonderful marketing strategy. Except they neglected acouple of things.

 

First, when you lose a customer because you look and act like you don't care, theres always a competitor thats more than willing to give that customer what they want.

 

Second, Attempting to put pieces of the game back in after release is not something that is going to surprise/fool/shock any long time MMO gamer. Its also not going to win back people who have already left, because the game is so lack luster.

 

There really is no reason for anyone to continue paying for a game which is now blatantly acknowledged as being incomplete. To defend the developers for releasing content they removed to begin with is just foolish. Its a subscription based game. If they want the subcriptions, they kinda have to give people a little something for their money. What they've given so far isn't worth a subscription. Also not worth paying to wait.

 

TLDR: Consumer standards, get some.

[Rahl_Windsong]

2. BioWare knows it made mistakes

 

The developers weren’t shy of admitting areas of the game that they dropped the ball. It was refreshing to hear their candor about problems in the game, rather than pretending they didn’t exist. Here are some of the big problems they acknowledged.

 

1. Operations are buggy, and are not as difficult as they’d hoped.
   
2. Open World PvP, especially Ilum, is completely broken.
   
3. Worlds need to be more interactive.
   
4. Guild features in-game are “bare bones.”
   
5. While they didn’t say that they disliked the UI, they listed a ton of changes coming to the UI
   
6. in patch 1.2 and said that was “only 5% of what we want to do.”
   

 

2. Brought up in beta, we knew Illum was broken.

3. Brought up by testers over a year ago.

4. Brought up by testers over a year ago.

5. Brought up by testers over a year ago.

 

Point is they knew these things and more were of concern by testers over a year ago, but did nothing. These are the types of "polish" the game should have had before release. These are things that should have been of concern to BW before release.

 

Instead they chose to ignore these things and bring them in a patch as if they are listening to players when they didn't listen to testers. People will be fooled though, I'm sure. Plenty of fanbois about.

 

Honestly I think they wanted the story aspect of SWTOR to be intact and well done at launch and as long as the rest worked they would launch with it. In beta 90% of the popup questions were about story content and rewards, I was never asked to comment on anything like animations, game play, combat, etc....

 

They got the story part working well, now I hope they can make the rest as good as that....

[wifeaggro]

A good read, but I have to agree that the whole point #2 with bugs they admitted, was reported during beta testing, and still did not get fixed.

 

Some people blame the testers, but the truth is that thise issues was reported on test forum, then ignored. This game would have been better, if biowere had listened to the testers.

 

For me, 1.2 will be make or break, either they get their **** sorted or I am out of here and will never return. A long line of faliures for Biowere now. DA2, ME3 and now TOR?..

 

They need to shape up..

 

---

 

 

Addendum: The only reason why PvP is so popular is because your PvE content is broken, boring and to easy. There is litterly ZERO to do in this game post level 50, so OFC people PvP.. But I guess the DEV's say: WOW people are pvping we must have done something right in that area. Well no. You ****ed up in PvE so people are playing the only content that is worth a damm in this game atm: PvP

 

Bioware will never make games like they did when they were independent of any corporate influenece. everything they do now is stripped down games with very little depth to the mechanics. Lots of flash and flare and very little substance. they call this streamlining , i call it corperate shot callers telling them to pump this said game out in this amount of time or we are firing x amount of people from your studio.

 

Every game bioware makes now in the single player realm is designed for the xbox and ps 3 , PC's are an afterthought its the reason DA 2 and Me 2 and 3 felt like a castrated version of its father titles. TOR is a absloute disasster for the MMO market it has solidfied with its success that the veterans of this genre will get watered down simplified games with no attachment to the game world, fluff lore and mind grinding repetive content with zero dynamic concepts.

[Dezzi]

Reading through my post history, you'll see that I often "gripe" (as Blotter would say it) and lament aspects of the game I'm unhappy with. That said, I watched the entire summit live through the stream, and I was extremely pleased with the tone of the event.

 

The developers were open and responsive with their input (I didn't notice any side-stepping), and they willingly answered tough questions about their game (there were a few "oops" moments) without getting defensive or stand-offish.

 

As the OP's article mentions, the developers were also quick to point out where they made mistakes. And as a currently-unsatisfied player, I was touched by their candor. It impressed me. A lot.

 

1.2 will bring with it much-needed updates to the game--many of which we can argue should have been in the game from launch. While that may or may not be true, it's nice to know the team has their heads on straight and are geared toward improving the game.

 

They earned a re-subscription from me, and this article highlights why exactly.

Edited March 10, 2012 by Dezzi

[Mephismo]

2. BioWare knows it made mistakes

 

The developers weren’t shy of admitting areas of the game that they dropped the ball. It was refreshing to hear their candor about problems in the game, rather than pretending they didn’t exist. Here are some of the big problems they acknowledged.

 

1. Operations are buggy, and are not as difficult as they’d hoped.
   
2. Open World PvP, especially Ilum, is completely broken.
   
3. Worlds need to be more interactive.
   
4. Guild features in-game are “bare bones.”
   
5. While they didn’t say that they disliked the UI, they listed a ton of changes coming to the UI
   
6. in patch 1.2 and said that was “only 5% of what we want to do.”
   

 

2. Brought up in beta, we knew Illum was broken.

3. Brought up by testers over a year ago.

4. Brought up by testers over a year ago.

5. Brought up by testers over a year ago.

 

Point is they knew these things and more were of concern by testers over a year ago, but did nothing. These are the types of "polish" the game should have had before release. These are things that should have been of concern to BW before release.

 

Instead they chose to ignore these things and bring them in a patch as if they are listening to players when they didn't listen to testers. People will be fooled though, I'm sure. Plenty of fanbois about.

 

Maybe they needed a second opinion.

Sometimes I think they left stuff out deliberately.

So they could say later, hey look at all these cool features we are adding.

[tharengore]

Reading through my post history, you'll see that I often "gripe" (as Blotter would say it) and lament aspects of the game I'm unhappy with. That said, I watched the entire summit live through the stream, and I was extremely pleased with the tone of the event.

 

The developers were open and responsive with their input (I didn't notice any side-stepping), and they willingly answered tough questions about their game (there were a few "oops" moments) without getting defensive or stand-offish.

 

As the OP's article mentions, the developers were also quick to point out where they made mistakes. And as a currently-unsatisfied player, I was touched by their candor. It impressed me. A lot.

 

1.2 will bring with it much-needed updates to the game--many of which we can argue should have been in the game from launch. While that may or may not be true, it's nice to know the team has their heads on straight and are geared toward improving the game.

 

They earned a re-subscription from me, and this article highlights why exactly.

 

Well Said, and im with you on that. It's not often that a developer from a MMO will come out and say we made some mistakes, esp with game only a few months old.

 

That being said I dont know why people are hating on Mass Effect 2 and especially 3. Playing Mass Effect 3 and its amazing, the stories are touching (although the male Shepard does get at little too flaming at times for me.). The combat is sound and very good, I have to use cover at times and cant stay in one place with out grenades being dropped on my head. Plus I do also like DA2...but still think DA:O is the better of the two.

[TheOnlyKyrenS]

If you want to blame someone for the mistakes, blame EA. Publishers are always making developers rush so they can make the most amount of money during the holiday season. EA did the exact same thing with Battlefield 3. They rushed Dice and there was a bunch of bugs and CoD fanboys thought they had won.

[IasonEvan]

If you want to blame someone for the mistakes, blame EA. Publishers are always making developers rush so they can make the most amount of money during the holiday season. EA did the exact same thing with Battlefield 3. They rushed Dice and there was a bunch of bugs and CoD fanboys thought they had won.

 

There is a game that pits CoD against BF3? Did the bugs keep the BF3 fans from winning the match? What is the name of the game that has CoD against BF3? If you play a game only to see it sell more units than another game, you are doing it wrong.

 

On topic: I am glad they are finally addressing some of the littany of things wrong with the game. A bunch of these are things that should have been in the game on day 1. You can't release an MMO in 2011/2012 and have as shallow a Trade Network/guild options/UI issues etc. The GTN and the guild options especially. It's one of the worst auction houses i have ever seen. The guild options are laughable. Hope they make good on their promises and soon. This game is becoming a placeholder for me until Guild Wars 2.

[Deewe]

People like you are the reason why products get released in such a poor state. Maybe if people like you had standards, this game wouldn't look so much like a pile of stale dog ****.

 

Personally I don't care if its EA's fault, or Bioware's fault. To put it bluntly, they ****ed up. They went for raw sales, at the expense of continuing subs. On the face this seems like a wonderful marketing strategy. Except they neglected acouple of things.

 

First, when you lose a customer because you look and act like you don't care, theres always a competitor thats more than willing to give that customer what they want.

 

Second, Attempting to put pieces of the game back in after release is not something that is going to surprise/fool/shock any long time MMO gamer. Its also not going to win back people who have already left, because the game is so lack luster.

 

There really is no reason for anyone to continue paying for a game which is now blatantly acknowledged as being incomplete. To defend the developers for releasing content they removed to begin with is just foolish. Its a subscription based game. If they want the subcriptions, they kinda have to give people a little something for their money. What they've given so far isn't worth a subscription. Also not worth paying to wait.

 

TLDR: Consumer standards, get some.

One more thing: there's s only one launch for each MMO.

 

They missed it. Now they'll have to work twice harder to compensate and it's not even sure it'll work either regarding the competitors won't stand back, waiting.

Edited March 10, 2012 by Deewe

[WookieePower]

Have you ever thought that it wasn't BW's fault? If they had a majority of the control, they wouldn't have released the game till it was ready, EA probably wanted them to rush it so that they could sell it during the holiday season.

 

Bioware is owned by EA, trying to say one or the other is at fault is pointless.

[ZedFighter]

Bioware is owned by EA, trying to say one or the other is at fault is pointless.

 

Like in the 1800s owns them.

[VainEldritch]

can someone explain this?

 

Sounds like bar brawling. Let's hope they make a more successful implentation of it than FU(n)Com - it was promised before AoC was released and never made it in.

[Bojanglez]

Nice article thanks for the link!

 

This - thanks to the OP for posting this, I hadn't seen it (but love it).

[souloferdrick]

Well, people fell for the first wave of hype and spin so its not a surprise they could be so easily duped again.

[RickRedOne]

I reported several bugs in beta that would literally take 5 minutes to fix. Stuff like typos and such. None of them have been fixed. Not a single one. You really expected them to fix the stuff on that list when they didn't even fix a couple of typos?

 

I'm sorry but typos are not game breaking. There are much more important things to fix.

 

I can see the response if they had fixed all those typos....

 

"Look at that BW is to busy fixing typos instead of fixing the things that really need fixing"

[Invictos]

One more thing: there's s only one launch for each MMO.

 

They missed it. Now they'll have to work twice harder to compensate and it's not even sure it'll work either regarding the competitors won't stand back, waiting.

 

1.7 million subscribers three months after launch, and you say Bioware may never recover from SWTOR's bad first impression?

 

Seriously man. The game has flaws and I'm usually willing to discuss them, but some of the doomsaying in this forum reads like a press conference from the Iraqi Information Minister.

[Darka]

If you want to blame someone for the mistakes, blame EA. Publishers are always making developers rush so they can make the most amount of money during the holiday season. EA did the exact same thing with Battlefield 3. They rushed Dice and there was a bunch of bugs and CoD fanboys thought they had won.

 

EA are going to get blamed for anything and everything people do not like about TOR, and already are. No mater what their decision or input level on a decision.

EA are still "hated" and for many its still "cool to hate" and personally I think many throw it out there to make it sound like they know what they are talking about.

 

TBH the way every game gets complained about, you'd think they are all rushed.

[DarthKhaos]

I wonder about some of the people on the forums. The game has a pretty solid core with the leveling system. They have put some end game stuff off the bat and have the game functioning. A lot of RECENT MMO's can't claim that at launch. There are things players want and these things can and will be added. No brand new MMO has everything you want.

 

I'm going to continue to support this game because I am having fun & I can see where it can be and I'm going to continue e-mailing support with my ideas and suggestions. If you guys want you an continue to try to drag the game down but know this most of the people who are enjoying this game never been on the forums.