When Story Affects Social Aspects

[Levine]

Quick backstory: I fat fingered a response with one of my companions around level 30 and couldn't escape from it before it ended (you know, quick cut scene that blasts by before you know what to do). I asked a GM for help and was told (after repeatedly filing issues and asking for a real response rather than a vague "ok, we hear you, something may happen") that GMs would not reverse story line issues because of Bioware's devotion to consequences.

 

Normally this isn't an issue, since Bioware games are mostly single player games. If you mess up, simply reload the game or go back to an earlier save. Too far in the past? No problem! Replaying through the game's usually pretty fun. The problem with TOR is that this is an MMO. Your friends want to play with you, but levels really matter. Heaven help you if you're in a hardcore raiding guild and tell your guildies, "Sorry, I'll need another 3 weeks to level up this healer because I really want Title X from a class quest but chose the wrong option so I need to reroll."

 

What really sucks is the not knowing part. While wikis etc help, when changes are permanent and there's no multiple save options, you're going to have to find out the hard way. I had a bad feeling about my companion issue, but played until Act 3. I had a ton of companion gifts and got everyone's affection very high. I was able to complete several character's quests, including the one I wanted to romance, but never got the option to do anything beyond, literally, 2 flirts in the whole act.

 

The lack of indication for when you make a permanent mistake in a class quest, and the absence of a method to fix it, is unacceptable in an MMO. I understand that this occurs in RPGs, but those are single player games.

 

I have played my character for months. Friends have hit the level cap and stopped playing due to boredom, and those who are still around don't want to hear that I won't be able to play with them again for another month because a story-line issue is forcing me to delete my character and start again. The upcoming legacy system does not have unlocks for playing the same faction/class twice, and having a guild mate remake a character based on story in unacceptable in a multi-player game. I knew going into this game that it was mainly a single player RPG with a multi-player option until end game when it's essentially WoW again (read: do dailies, raids, BGs, and soon ladder matches, or simply reroll), but the RPG factor NEEDS to be second to the social aspects of the game. Permanent story factors are ok in single player RPGs where you can have multiple saves, but not in MMOs.

[sugarnails]

I agree, there should be a way to change things. I don't think that it's something you should be able to do over and over, however. Maybe they could implement a sliding fee for each conversation option you change?

 

My biggest problem with not having any way to fix a wrong choice (outside of hitting escape) is that some of the option summaries are terribly misleading and/or too vague. I remember a few 'What the...?' moments when I had chosen what appeared to be a positive or neutral option only to have my character totally go off on the poor npc. I pretty much always have a finger poised to spam the escape key during every conversation now.

[Captain_Zone]

I agree, there should be a way to change things. I don't think that it's something you should be able to do over and over, however. Maybe they could implement a sliding fee for each conversation option you change?

 

My biggest problem with not having any way to fix a wrong choice (outside of hitting escape) is that some of the option summaries are terribly misleading and/or too vague. I remember a few 'What the...?' moments when I had chosen what appeared to be a positive or neutral option only to have my character totally go off on the poor npc. I pretty much always have a finger poised to spam the escape key during every conversation now.

 

^ This!!! My finger also poised over the esc key just in case.