Is anyone going to miss Airlocks/Orbital stations?

[CaricLeoric]

With 1.2 approaching, and the patch notes saying that you can now shuttle from a planets surface back to your ship (thereby bypassing the airlock/orbital stations), will anyone miss them? I, for one, thought from the moment I set foot on one in beta "what kind of nonsense is this?" A long hallway with nothing to interact with except the door followed by a mini-spaceport where, except the first time you go there, has nothing to do except click the shuttle. What silly time sinks. I understand, story wise, the need for them but my gosh, there had to have been a better way to render this. Maybe instead of landing at a spaceport, you just flew to a planet and got off on a shuttle or something.

 

Nope, won't miss them at all.

[notebene]

They are doubly painful for me, as the only time I use the sprint ability is when I'm stealthed, as I can't 'stand' how I look when I'm sprinting.

 

So I have lots and lots of very long trots through them.

 

But I look good (and human, mind you) doing it.

[ferroz]

With 1.2 approaching, and the patch notes saying that you can now shuttle from a planets surface back to your ship (thereby bypassing the airlock/orbital stations), will anyone miss them? I, for one, thought from the moment I set foot on one in beta "what kind of nonsense is this?" A long hallway with nothing to interact with except the door followed by a mini-spaceport where, except the first time you go there, has nothing to do except click the shuttle. What silly time sinks. I understand, story wise, the need for them but my gosh, there had to have been a better way to render this. Maybe instead of landing at a spaceport, you just flew to a planet and got off on a shuttle or something.

 

Nope, won't miss them at all.

so, you still have to go through them to get to the planet?

[sjmc]

I've hardly ever gone through the orbital station or spaceport to get to my ship. When leaving a planet, I usually take a flashpoint shuttle to the fleet, stop at the market/trainer/etc. and go to my ship from there.

[Rikeryo]

nope. I'd like to blow them up.

[Andryah]

I've hardly ever gone through the orbital station or spaceport to get to my ship. When leaving a planet, I usually take a flashpoint shuttle to the fleet, stop at the market/trainer/etc. and go to my ship from there.

 

Same, with a fleet pass thrown in here and there.

 

I am always amazed at peoples inability to grasp and make use of in game short cuts that are readily available to them.

[Cooperal]

Glad to see the back of them myself. The fact the exterior of so many stations look identical to the main hub of the republic/imperial fleet was off-putting. Especially when it dawns on you that such copy/pastes are only there so they could reuse some landing/take-off cutscenes for numerous planets and every NPC on-board could've been dumped anywhere else.

 

That and the process of running through one station to load up your ship to run through another station just feels like a gradual timesink that reaps no satisfaction. Things like that can steal hours in no time. Maybe days by the end of a long-term players subscription.

[RobNightfall]

Nope.

[Rahl_Windsong]

Nope, every single time I have to slog through them I am thinking...who was the idiot who thought this was a good idea?

[chrisftw]

can't say i'll miss them but i thought they were pretty authentic i mean i can't arrive at the airport and then all the sudden be in my seat on the plane

 

i gotta walk through the terminal, present my ticket. then wait for the flight and THEN get on the plane.

 

people seem to forget these things when they play games.

[Yager]

If they are logical in a story, I don't mind them. For example, the station at Balmorra where the planet is in a state of war and landing multiple ships on the surface may be dangerous because the space port is in enemy hands, but then make the station have some mission start NPC's so it is more than a pass through.

 

What bugs me more is when I use an elevator that doesn't have multiple levels it stops at but I still have to select which level I want to go to. Just transport me to the other level if I only have one choice besides the level I am already on.

[Cancrizans]

As they were implemented, no I won't miss them. They had some potential for creating realism/immersion etc. but that would have required additional work to make them more interactive and interesting.

 

As Bioware really hasn't really added much in the way of social/interactive content in the game at all, I really don't think the removal of the hubs/etc is a big deal. I DO think it is a big deal that they haven't added much interactivity to prime social locations like Cantinas, Fleet etc....while I am hoping they will in the near future, I think it us a huge mistake to ignore how important such things are for creating a sense of community in the game.

 

I am not one of those people who wants this to be another SWG...and in fact the only real experience I had with that game was a few 2 week trials I did over the years. However I'd like to note one thing I learned from that game that is something most MMO developers seem to completely ignore...yet even from the shallow standpoint of "cost effective" development it is something that gives a LOT back in terms of development cost:consumer loyalty...that SWG did an INCREDIBLE job of making their game a place people were just happy as heck to hang out in whether or not there was content to run and raid gear to acquire.

 

I remember when I got off the starter planet for the first time(don't remember what the planet was or many of the details lol), I wandered into a cantina and there were like 30 people hanging out in there, just having apparently the time of their lives. It was INFECTIOUS to the degree that I was just having a blast taking part in this virtual party...and everyone was so cool and friendly...no one was whining about PvP imbalance or endgame, it was just a great happy crowd having fun playing a game at its most basic level...because they actually enjoyed socializing with people who enjoyed games as much as they did, not because they were looking for an outlet to prove they could outdo someone else by getting more gear or other nonsensical video game status symbols.

 

It reminds me of what MMOs used to be...and how far they have fallen in the past ten years. I'd trade even half the community spirit we used to have for all of the so called "advances" WoW and it's followers have brought to MMO gaming.

 

I hope Bioware at least recognizes how simple quality of life improvements like functional seating, mini games, and other socially oriented changes can go a long way towards making SWTOR not only a place to compete for gear and titles...but a virtual world people care about and want to enjoy for reasons other than queuing for the next Warzone or waiting for the next Op group.

[soulself]

From what i understand they will still be in game so the option to by pass them after you have been though them once, which from a RP'ers point of view makes decent places to go cause not a lot of traffic running through the place.

 

now if all the space stations didn't look like crap

[ibervang]

I wont miss them. Only use of them is, on 2 of them (of what i recall) you get a Q on it. One of them which is about you also getting warned about disease, or something. but such a thing could have been added better.

[Cancrizans]

I wont miss them. Only use of them is, on 2 of them (of what i recall) you get a Q on it. One of them which is about you also getting warned about disease, or something. but such a thing could have been added better.

 

Ya I believe you are talking about Quesh. See, it is really kind of sad, because in details like this you can see the game the developers actually wanted to create...we can only imagine how many terrific ideas had to be thrown on the scrap heap due to deadlines imposed by people with no other interest but giving a release date to their stockholders and other corporate flunkies.

 

The more MMOs become commercialized(thanks Blizzard) the more the creative and social ideals that gave them life fade into distant memory.

[Yager]

As they were implemented, no I won't miss them. They had some potential for creating realism/immersion etc. but that would have required additional work to make them more interactive and interesting.

 

As Bioware really hasn't really added much in the way of social/interactive content in the game at all, I really don't think the removal of the hubs/etc is a big deal. I DO think it is a big deal that they haven't added much interactivity to prime social locations like Cantinas, Fleet etc....while I am hoping they will in the near future, I think it us a huge mistake to ignore how important such things are for creating a sense of community in the game.

 

I am not one of those people who wants this to be another SWG...and in fact the only real experience I had with that game was a few 2 week trials I did over the years. However I'd like to note one thing I learned from that game that is something most MMO developers seem to completely ignore...yet even from the shallow standpoint of "cost effective" development it is something that gives a LOT back in terms of development cost:consumer loyalty...that SWG did an INCREDIBLE job of making their game a place people were just happy as heck to hang out in whether or not there was content to run and raid gear to acquire.

 

I remember when I got off the starter planet for the first time(don't remember what the planet was or many of the details lol), I wandered into a cantina and there were like 30 people hanging out in there, just having apparently the time of their lives. It was INFECTIOUS to the degree that I was just having a blast taking part in this virtual party...and everyone was so cool and friendly...no one was whining about PvP imbalance or endgame, it was just a great happy crowd having fun playing a game at its most basic level...because they actually enjoyed socializing with people who enjoyed games as much as they did, not because they were looking for an outlet to prove they could outdo someone else by getting more gear or other nonsensical video game status symbols.

 

It reminds me of what MMOs used to be...and how far they have fallen in the past ten years. I'd trade even half the community spirit we used to have for all of the so called "advances" WoW and it's followers have brought to MMO gaming.

 

I hope Bioware at least recognizes how simple quality of life improvements like functional seating, mini games, and other socially oriented changes can go a long way towards making SWTOR not only a place to compete for gear and titles...but a virtual world people care about and want to enjoy for reasons other than queuing for the next Warzone or waiting for the next Op group.

 

As a former SWG player I 100% agree.

 

The cantina's were are great place to just hang out and socialize, and for those who were looking for something else to do they were a great place to find others to do it with. The fleet stations would be great places for this to happen in ToR, if a similar aspect existed in game.

 

I played SWG from Beta till they started letting people transfer characters in prep for the server merging. It had some really great things about it, more so pre-NGE. Those who liked PvP had it,those who liked PvE had it, those who liked RP and socilizing had it. As hard as it was to develop the "open sandbox" concept it was based on was the best way to make an MMO. I believe that SWG would have lasted longer had they not tried to change it to emulate the WoW format and instead kept going with the initial concept and expanded on it.

[Distracted]

I like to be fully immersed when I play, so I will miss them & will still use them if the option is available.

[RikHar]

With 1.2 approaching, and the patch notes saying that you can now shuttle from a planets surface back to your ship (thereby bypassing the airlock/orbital stations), will anyone miss them? I, for one, thought from the moment I set foot on one in beta "what kind of nonsense is this?" A long hallway with nothing to interact with except the door followed by a mini-spaceport where, except the first time you go there, has nothing to do except click the shuttle. What silly time sinks. I understand, story wise, the need for them but my gosh, there had to have been a better way to render this. Maybe instead of landing at a spaceport, you just flew to a planet and got off on a shuttle or something.

 

Nope, won't miss them at all.

 

 

 

 

 

You found it necessary to come here to ask a question just so you can answer it yourself?

 

You could of saved yourself time.

[ShadowOfVey]

can't say i'll miss them but i thought they were pretty authentic i mean i can't arrive at the airport and then all the sudden be in my seat on the plane

 

i gotta walk through the terminal, present my ticket. then wait for the flight and THEN get on the plane.

 

people seem to forget these things when they play games.

 

It is more realistic, true. However I don't want to have to take a crap in game at set intervals either.

 

Especially since there'd probably be some sort of wiping minigame and I don't think we're ready for that.

[Reico]

As a former SWG player I 100% agree.

 

The cantina's were are great place to just hang out and socialize, and for those who were looking for something else to do they were a great place to find others to do it with. The fleet stations would be great places for this to happen in ToR, if a similar aspect existed in game.

 

I played SWG from Beta till they started letting people transfer characters in prep for the server merging. It had some really great things about it, more so pre-NGE. Those who liked PvP had it,those who liked PvE had it, those who liked RP and socilizing had it. As hard as it was to develop the "open sandbox" concept it was based on was the best way to make an MMO. I believe that SWG would have lasted longer had they not tried to change it to emulate the WoW format and instead kept going with the initial concept and expanded on it.

 

 

SWG was hemorrhaging subs long before the NGE hit. Ground combat was horribly broken for both PVP and PVE and instead of fixing it they made a boring flight sim expansion. Also 99% of cantina use was for getting buffs, nothing more.