Team Bioware - The Definitive Issues That You're Not Addressing or Responding To

[Verdan]

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I – The 4TH PILLAR, STORY, IS CRUMBLING

 

Other than Class story, the overall story is flat - there's only the protagonist and an endless stream of NPC strangers who give quests. If that were a book, it would read like the worst of the Conan the Barbarian novels. A story needs an ensemble cast, akin to the Leias, the Hans, the Chewies, to give it the depth and charm we're familiar with in Star Wars (or any good story) and Star Wars EU. The ensemble cast gives us story progression for the main characters, journeying with the avatar.

 

We could have that with our crew, our Companions, but they're so underutilized that even though the story sparks to life when they speak up, it’s so rare that it’s practically non-existent.

 

In TOR, we're innundated with NPC strangers in an endless string of assigning tasks and "do this and kill 15-50 bonus mobs". One solution is to have more of the generic quests given from mission terminals, and have more dialogue development resources applied to crew and crew progression, crew quests to bring some real story depth to the game.

 

STORY SUGGESTIONS --------------------------------------

• Reallocate development time spent on quests talking with strangers to mission terminals, and use the extra development time to develop content where Companion’s chime in, or more Companion quests, or both. Bring on the ensemble cast.

 

 

• A design goal that Companions chime in on significantly more general quests. Examples would be the avatar asking for the Companion’s opinion on a course of action, or the Companion just offering opinion, and suited to choices made thus far. If they’re starting to get unhappy with prior choices let it start to show, and vice versa.

 

 

• Introduce characters in the stories that we see recurringly, and build character depth, such as a General, an intelligence leader, a squadron leader... characters that adds continuity beyond even the Companions.

 

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II - SURNAMES - BROKEN MMO EXPERIENCE

 

The existing surname/Legacy system is broken on so many levels as an MMO experience, it's a failure. It’s so restricted by someone's sacred cows, it’s a constant thorn to players for fundamentals they expect and enjoy in an MMO; rooted in flexibility suitable to a broad player base.

 

Family Names

I play with family, we have (update: "had") 4 accounts in our household. We discovered we can't take the same surname as a family unit. Call it RP if you like, but its just family. How many surnames are unique in RL? Not many. Open a directory, you'd be hard pressed to find a unique surname in any city of the world, and in every family, you find the same last name. In TOR, we can't have the same last name. Why not?

 

Names Across Accounts

I have two accounts myself, but for those I have a RP theme (brothers) across accounts, I can't have the same last name. Refer to above rationale. Why not?

 

Unrelated Avatars

I have two avatars within the same faction, a Sith and a Bounty Hunter. They are not related, they have no relation to each other, and conduct themselves very differently. They do not come from the same worlds. Why are they required to have the same last name? I don't want them to have a relation in the game. They are NOT related to each other. Unrelated avatars are forced to share a name. Why?

 

Names Across Races

I have two avatars. One is a Human, the other is a Twi’lek. Clearly they were born of different families, but under the existing system they have the same surname. Why?

 

Names Across Factions

I have two avatars who went different directions. One is a Bounty Hunter, one is a Smuggler. They should be able to have the same last name, as they're brothers. (Another example of expected MMO flexibiltiy.)

 

Surnames to Start

My name was given at birth. Yet I have to wait until level 32 to have my last name appear? Why?

 

Canon Naming of Sith

Anakin Skywalker is neither Anakin Vader, Darth Skywalker, or the Skywalker Legacy. He was born Anakin Skywalker and became Darth Vader. Jacen Solo is neither Jacen Caedus, Darth Solo, or The Solo Legacy. The canon for sith naming is established. It's not hard at all to figure out; a birth name and surname, and a Sith name, for both my Sith avatars, yet the game doesn't function to canon. Why not?

 

Legacy Capital Letter Restrictions

There's a restriction and data entry inconsistency, such that when you enter "McCloud" it appears as "McCloud" in the data entry box, but when it applies the name to appear over your avatar's head, it appears as "Mccloud". The data entry box behavior is inconsistent, and there's a restriction limiting caps to only the first letter. Why?

 

SURNAME SUGGESTIONS --------------------------------------

 

• 1. Remove all the Surname restrictions and let us name our character’s surnames the way players EACH WANT to name our own avatars, including same surnames across accounts and across family member’s accounts. Smith is not a unique name in our world, nor should Ok’lax be in SWTOR.

 

 

• 2. Provide some Sith canon naming OPTIONS that suit player’s desires. i.e. if they want to take a Sith Name to accompany the accomplishment of Darth title, LET THEM have that option. If they choose to keep their name/surname the way it was before acquiring the Darth Title, LET THEM have that option. Key word for MMO = Flexibility, to suit broad preferences and styles.

 

 

• 3. Grant surnames from the start, as an MMO fundamental. As adult avatars, we have names we obtained from birth, so give us our surnames from very early on, if not at start.

 

 

• 4. Give us the ability to change our Surnames in-game, such as the vendors that reset AC points. This is terribly needed, especially when the system helps players make mistakes in their names, such as with the Capital Letter problem in the above, or frankly, just simply want to change up their approach and enjoyment.

 

 

• 5. Do some basic analysis on why so many people lost their MMO identity / player names in transfers from light servers to light servers; be it incidents of griefing, or lack of policy that allows massive amounts of players to set up level 1 avatars on servers they're not playing on, to hold names on EVERY server. We lost our MMO identities needlessly due to lack of Bioware prework diligence or policy. The Level 1's should be purged if a player isn't really playing on that server, or limit an account to x# of servers. Find out, and remedy. Give us a free \changename and \changelegacy function after you've cleaned up your fumbled mess having hard impacts to players who carefully selected their names going back long before Testing phase.

 

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III – BROKEN ELEMENTS THAT SIGNIFICANTLY ADD UP

 

• Music for the game - is almost non-existent, with the occasional sudden blare of music to snap us out of the fog of grinding endless quests to do that and kill 15-50 bonus mobs. Upon that realization, I loaded up the CE TOR soudtrack CD and found it very simple, commercial, and uninspired - and threw it away after pulling into the driveway. There's a huge missed opportunity to create thematic music scores to set the tone of each world, for combat, exploration, and background.

 

 

• Grouping and group management - 45% fixed with 1.3 - suffers greatly from a lack of Global Chat channel spanning worlds, and from the ability to find and be Summoned to the group for any selected group content regardless of what planet or patch of dirt we happen to be standing on -

Sidebar: You forced us to the Stations for everything - that needs to go! as the unnatural impediment to game enjoyment that it is. There's zero enjoyment from standing there amongst other players all twiddling our thumbs looking for a group or queue when we could be doing something else enjoyable while waiting for a group queue and a "summons" to the content. Instead of forced machinations and manipulations of players, let's provide organic game flow ... bring back GTN, crafting vendors, etc. to each major planet (if not all planets)

... I currently have to leave group-finding queue to join a group on the planet I'm working on, ... I can't select Heroics for the planet I'm on, ... finally, when completed with the instance, put us back where we were standing when we were first summoned for the group; ie. if I was in a field on Quesh, put me back on Quesh in the same spot when I hit the "Exit Area" button. Glaring ommissions.

 

 

• Travel - is cumbersome. Need more porting options, less cooldowns (cooldowns why?), summons to group and exit back to where I was when originally summoned (not the Faction Station!!!), faster speeders, speeders earlier for all players (not just Legacy), and better ways to get to the Ship. Also, as a galactic Hero, it makes no sense that I'm hearing "schlop schop" of footfalls all the way through level 25, and common "buzz" of a speeder through the rest of the game (mostly, this our only soundtrack). There's no reason we can't get speeders to begin our 2nd world (level 10). Heros have a stunning starship all their own by 16, but don't even have a beater speeder until 25? They're heros doing heroic work, but have to walk? That's not good gameplay, especially when coupled with no Soundtrack and long grinds.

 

 

• Player Ships - are quite a miss. They're inconvenient to get to, need some port ability (have the crew fly by and scoop us up)... need to speed up the time it takes to get to it and get back to the action, no more running to and through starports every time, and then through and from orbital stations - crazy. In ANH (Ep 4), on Tatooine, the Falcon was parked right off the dirt alley through a door to a launch bay in the middle of town. It should be that accessible, or give us a port option. There may be a technical game performance issue (solve it) that makes us have to launch when we just wanted to hop on our ship for a minute, and didn't need to go through a launch and land sequence adding to the inconveneint delays of gameplay. And oh, small thing (NOT) but why can't we name our ships?

 

 

• Pace of leveling - is so slow for alts, its often mind-numbing - in this flat story environment, the idea (and experience) of leveling another toon to 50 is excruciatingly painful - I'd rather have my teeth drilled with a dull bit. We don't want to repeat the whole planet's routine quests for the 3rd time (or 15th time after participating in testing; scream)... Like any MMO, TOR starts off with the pendulum swung way over to the extreme, and later, MMO developers ALWAYS speed up the leveling. Well, TOR is no exception to the initial speed trap and learned nothing from prior MMOs. Let's expedite mind-numbing "do this and kill 15-50 bonus mobs" grinding. I don't need that long to learn a new class skill before moving on to the next one. Let's speed it up quite a bit and get those alts to endgame for game enjoyment.

 

 

• VOICE CHAT for Pugs - other MMO's have it built in, so when we're in warzones, flashpoints, or heroics, we can actually speak to our fellow group members in PUGs. Groups without VOICE, especially warzones, almost, if not entirely, eliminates teamwork, and defeats the purpose of objective-oriented (non open-world) multiplayer combat - lack of voice chat undermines the entire group experience and teamwork effectiveness. So while you're working on mega-servers or whatever you call it, give us voice communication between players in PUGs. Fundamental, yes?

 

 

• Customization of gear - provide mechanisms for color choices in multiple elements of a piece, such as main body, hems, collar/cuff. Short and sweet, that's all that needs to be said. Companions have been forgotten in gear customization. Aside, love the crafting system foundations, great start.

 

 

• Chat Bubbles - traditional MMO fundamentals of communicating with other players is broken without chat bubbles. MMO common sense.

 

 

• Sith corruption in non-Force using classes - needs to go quickly. Grandfather it in if you must for existing players who choose it, but the Zombie-Smugglers, and Walking Dead Troopers are just lame. It makes no sense. I don't like it for my Smuggler at all, and want it removed pretty quickly for anyone interacting with him.

Update: my goodness, this still isn't fixed. On a new bounty hunter now. Why haven't you fixed this already? Really lame. Sorry if that affends you, but it is, and should never have gone Live, let alone last this long.

 

 

• UI Customization - 70% fixed.... can't view what scematics are on the GTN while comparing to the craft item window to see what we already know - due to restricted window viewing.NEW - When are you going to fix the limit on number of hotkey bars, there are not enough, and this should have been fixed with the latest UI update. Why can't we preview weapons as we can armor? Why can't you give us a CTL-right click for efficient previewing of gear on Mains, and CTL-ALT-right click for same on Companions?

 

 

• PvP Queue Systems - need to be balanced. There's a hundred ways to fix it, and I'm not here to tell you which one to do, but what matters is the outcome. If there's 8 Imperials and 6 Republics in the queue, start it with the first 6 from each side. Add players in evenly matched numbers, so it increases to 7, to 8, in matched sets. If someone drops (pretty rare) in the middle, fill the matching spot or if no players in the queue, it finishes unevely - so be it. Get the basics of coding right for matched play. Uneven numbers is nothing short of a slaughter and the undermining of the whole PvP experience. Looking forward to Ranked systems to keep the stacked teams of War Leader uber teams from being matched up with noobie Recruit-geared players.

 

 

• Datacrons - eliminate falling, such as was corrected with the gap between pipes in Coruscant Works datacron. The gymnastics are almost exclusively dependent on graphics and game performance rather than on player challenge or player skill (emphasis). I've proven this 100's of times playing on laptops and PC's, where an avatar will do a faultless run of gymnastics... then do the same thing on a laptop on a different avatar and fail to jump up on boxes or the simplest of leaps 20 failures in a row... then load up the same avatar a minute later on a good PC, and do it all on the first attempt again. While the exploration element is great, move things so that there's no falling repeatedly due to things out of the player's control. Nice idea, but not working technically to be equitable/enjoyable between players. Aside, what’s with the Hoth Ancient Droid datacron that’s 5 levels above the world’s content – that’s the first and last time I had to leave a world with the datacron’s unfinished and that made for lousy gaming experience. Currently have four endgame avatars, and all four have every datacron completed EXCEPT this one - completely unnecessary design failure.

 

 

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IV – COMPANION AFFECTION, AND DIALOGUE TRIGGERS

 

The system is way out of whack, and discovered I spent untold thousands on companion gift missions needlessly, and a broken game experience.

 

• I spent tons on missions over many weeks for Companion Gifts to get Bowdar, Risha and Cordo up to 10,000 affection. After a certain time, in the 3,000-5,000 Affection range, it seemed that they had no more dialogues to be triggered. I kept leveling them to 10,000 as I read something about it improving crafting. I got each to 10,000, and no more dialogues/quests appeared on the way.
   
  Well, it turns out that they did have more dialogue/quest events, but they were delayed by some trigger related to either level or class quest achievement, because at a certain point after hitting level 43 and finishing Hoth, I suddenly was presented with one dialogue after another on these companions.
   
  These quests came in a steady stream on my ship, I'm guessing 20 or more, all stored up waiting for this trigger to make them accessible. I did the entire level 43 to 44 just on these Companion dialogues there were so many of them, and took some time to work through all of them.
   
  Not only was this a broken gameplay experience, but I watched as I was awarded thousands of Affection that were wasted, as I was already 10,000 max when they were finally triggered and awarded. So I wasted all those companion gift missions, at 1,000-2,200+ credits per mission by not getting the benefit of the dialogue/quest affection along the way from these stored dialogues.

 

This was a real bust. These quests should have triggered by Affection points, and nothing else. To have them avalanche on me at the end after I was already 10,000 affection on each of them was a real tragedy.

 

 

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V - COMMUNITY EFFECTIVENESS – SWTOR FORUMS GROSSLY INADEQUATE

 

There remains a high consolidation of forum categories, so our feedback and discussion threads still get immediately buried under the pile 10 pages deep. Whether this forum, Customer Service, Flashpoints, or Crew Skills, as examples, it's the same. We can’t have a dialogue, and we have endless redundant posts on similar topics that are all single threads with one or two posts, instead of one or two threads with hundreds of posts in them – because in the trash pile of community feedback, we can not find logical threads that already exist absent a weak search tool.

 

Arrogance, that a dialogue with and between community members is not valued, presuming that superior minds can cull common points among endless scattered threads on the same topics. Arrogance to value statistics, rather than the relevance and priority that comes from exchange of dialgue and community exploration of topics. Sacred cows instead of community and project leadership fundamentals applied to communication and feedback loops.

 

This tells us, your valued players and customers, that our feedback and discussions don't matter to you, and additionally tells us not to bother taking our time to start a discussion or participate when we know our threads and posts will continue to get immediately buried. We expect some of that performance in any MMO boards in the General Discussion maelstrom, but not the other Forum sections, where more specific feedback and discussion, more thoughtful posts than "hawt pants needed" that are common in General Discussion in any MMO.

 

You aggregate the forums overtly and don't have the appropriate breakout forums. As examples, there's no forum for Companions, a major element of gameplay. There's no forum for Gear and Items; whether speaking to loot behavior, datacrons, or gear issues. There's no forum for the UI, there's not even forums for general Missions/Questing, so if you don’t want the info on why a quest is suboptimal or broken, then why should I bother seeing a thread buried in this mess of a forums – and many’s the time I would have posted a thread about a particular Quest. All of these are common to MMO Game forums, important areas of feedback, interest, and discussion.

 

There's also no separation of forums to distinguish support or feedback for the Website/Forums, versus Technical Support, versus other types of Account/Customer Support. Instead, all of these things are mashed into one forum called Customer Support in another landfill. This is really substandard and poor performance as customer service, community support, and community service.

 

You'll know you've fixed it when you can make a post in a Forum other than General Discussion and not have it buried on page 10 the same day, consequently turning away our participation with disdain.

 

COMMUNITY / FORUM EFFECTIVENESS SUGGESTIONS --------------------------------------

 

The following Forums should be created to remedy these issues creating the forum landfills:

 

• Customer Service
  
  • Website/Forums Discussion
    
  • Technical Support
    
  • Account/Customer Support

 

• Combat

• Gear, Items, Loot

• Companions

• Space, Ships

• Missions (Quests)

• Game Servers
  
  • Server Name (Name Specific)
     
    
    • Recruitment
      
    • General Disscussion

• Guild Features

• UI Discussion

 

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VI – PLAYER GUILD SUPPORT – OCCUPY SWTOR

 

Please vastly improve TOR satisfaction by addressing players' needs related to Guilds. You provided some game functionality for guilds, and a summit for the 1%, the Guild leaders. However, Guild leaders are the very small minority who arguably contribute more dissatisfaction than satisfaction - despite efforts great or small - to impact 99% of your TOR players and their overall satisfaction with TOR.

 

The Guild experience is a fundamental dimension of gameplay that, frankly, you leave to leadership amateurs ("amateurs" being generous) to determine success, and you give players (leaders and players alike) zero support to influence more successful outcomes. Do you leave other core elements of gameplay to amateurs to drive success? Of course not. Then why this one? Bad business.

 

At least, as developers of a game you’d like to be enjoyed by the majority of players at large, you might look to the needs of the 99% - the players - rather than the Guild leaders. Or better yet, look to improve the success for both.

 

Consider the following:

 

• Player's satisfaction and enjoyment of their overall guild experience is a significant factor in ongoing enjoyment of TOR, ie. if the player is frustrated by their guild experience, they're going to be more dissatisfied with the game experience overall. Conversely, if a player is enjoying their guild experience, their overall satisfaction with the MMO gameplay is going to be much higher. Fact.

 

 

• It is very challenging to find a good guild, and a good guild fit. At best, Guilds do a dismal job of marketing and setting expectations to give candidates the information needed to determine a good fit. Fact. The only way players can really find out if a guild is a potential fit, is to jump in head first and suffer through first-hand experience. Fact. There's little to no ability to research up front to find a good fit, you have to jump in. Fact. That may sound reasonable the first time, or the fifth, but time after time, year after year, of getting the same results makes for broken gaming.

 

 

• All guilds say the same simple things, things like "no drama" - which often means they don't want anyone challenging autocratic dogma and policies set by a few people on behalf of dozens to hundreds, or set by people who mostly aren't even around anymore - too often both apply. The same tired basics for "charters" are weak at best. This is where Team Bioware can really step up and innovate the MMO-Guild experience for the 99%, providing a huge value and utility to help players find good homes, with more firmly established expectations, and feedback mechanisms to keep guilds aligned to visible charter tenets - to thereby significantly improving players' satisfaction with TOR en masse.

 

 

GUILD SUPPORT FOR PLAYERS SUGGESTIONS --------------------------------------

 

I'm not here to say that one solution is better than the other, or that there's only one right way to approach it, but here's some examples of ways it can be approached to get the juices flowing:

 

1. Provide "Guild Charter Toolbox" and Query Tools - where Guilds are encouraged to answer a list of dropdown box questions developed by Team Bioware (with community input), such that if these items were adopted not only defines a charter and community expectations, but is also queryable - as was the pre-Launch Guild search tool. The query feature would facilitate players to find Guilds better suited to their needs; on maybe 20 dimensions, such as in the following example:

 

• 
  Charter Objective #12 - How We Make Decisions
  
• A: We are a benevolent dictatorship. Leaders make proactive decisions for quick action and progress.
  
• B: We pass Hot Topics by the community for input before leaders make a decision.
  
• C: We pass all decision points by the community for input before leaders make a decision.
  
• D: We are a democracy and a community, if there's a decision to be made, we discuss it and we vote on it.
  
• E: We are flexible, it is a combination of styles depending on the topic and importance.
   
  Optional Comment by Guild Leadership for Objective #12: "xxxxxxxxxxxxx".

 

 

2. Provide a simple YELP or TripAdvisor type feedback rating tool - that allows Players to periodically share Ratings (1 to 5) of how their Guild continues to subscribe to each of their own charter tenets. With such a tool, having Guilds' members responses over time, we'd see changes in behavior/focus to help Guilds and their leaders to the betterment of the TOR community and players' enjoyment overall. Then with these feedback ratings updated continuously, enhance the aforementioned query tool for players to search by both charter selections and ratings, to find guilds with the right mix of charter and performance.

 

By providing charter tools and query tools, the 100% of players enjoy better charters, better alignment, visibility, and feedback ... the bar is raised en masse.

 

Team Bioware, this is your game, your venture, and its being messed up as much as any other MMO by the anarchy and limited leadership skills of the 1%; folks who generally don't have a clue what it means to administer a community of adults, with respectful and proactive communication, or to navigate communities towards goals and change. That's a shame for the masses who are fed up trying to find a good guild. A shame for Bioware that your game is full of Guild-less players and dissatisfied Guilded players when it could be different. Bring the charters and visibility forward.

 

Maybe its time to change that broken model. Hint: Do a survey! Don't take my word for it.

 

Team Bioware, it's time for a change. To enjoy your game, the 99% need your help.

 

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VII – ENDGAME GUIDANCE

 

At one point, I had reached Ilum for first time, and it appeared to be more same ole same ole of planetary quests. Not being in a guild at the time (and again), and no chatter going on between players for info. So, was newly arrived on Ilum and wondering what endgame is all about in TOR. Seemed like Team Bioware doesn't make it very clear what we're supposed to do now that we're at 50. Not only was I not in a guild, but also in a low pop server, typically a dozen players on any given planet, and nobody does Heroics because there's nobody around to do them.

 

Saw a video some time ago that alluded that Ilum was supposed to be some great theme park that kept players busy, but didn't see anything upon arriving - except more typical "do this and kill 30 for a bonus" that I see on any planet?

 

A response from players indicated that Ilum was broken, that we should level alts (which is not endgame) or player warzones or flashpoints endlessly. Many posts suggested that endgame was broken. The end result was nothing short of confusion and bad gaming experience.

 

ENDGAME GUIDANCE SUGGESTIONS --------------------------------------

 

I can't help but feel quite let down by the dev expectation that Ilum offered perpetual activities for end game. I mean, come on. I got sent to the station, where an NPC sends me to Ilum, and I get off, and other than two quests, *crickets*.

 

*crickets*

 

So, Team Bioware, how about putting your video dev diary capabilities to use and create some Video Guides; a combination of video narrative and looks at ingame interfaces and experiences.

 

Suggested Content:

 

• End Game - You Got to 50 and are standing at the shuttle on Ilum, Now What?

• Warzones - A Beginners Guide: How to get started, a look at interfaces and grouping, motivation for participating, and what to expect.

• Crafting - A Beginners Guide: Leveling, Complementary Skills and Missions, Reverse Engineering, and how to find those things that don't appear to be given by Missions or landscape nodes.

• Flashpoints and Ops - A Beginners Guide: How to get started, a look at interfaces and finding groups, motivation for participating, and what to expect.

• Space Missions - A Beginners Guide: How to get started, a look at interfaces, dailies, ship gear and why, and what to expect.

• Gearing Up - A Beginners Guide to Gear: Different ways to acquire them, and the differences between gear from different sources.

 

[uPDATE: They've published limited video tutorials, including many of the above suggested topics. Not getting any narrative sound, but it's a start.]

 

 

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VIII – BROKEN CLIENT/SERVER SYNC UNDERMINES GROUP COMBAT & TAB TARGETING

 

What we see is an illusion - while multi-boxing (see URL below for pic) on up to 5 accounts on MMO's, what I see on each screen (in every other MMO) is players and mobs in exactly the same place facing exactly the same direction.

 

Not so in TOR.

 

In TOR, each client appears to position players and mobs in different locations - and aside from each player's perception of locations, the game server sees it from it's own perception. So, a warzone of 16 players and the server, it's 17 different views of locations. For an Op, 9 different views. It's pure group chaos.

 

What does this mean? What you see and react to (such as Tab'ing with an expectation for the Target to move the way you would expect) is not what the game sees and how it responds to your Tab'ing. You hitting Tab 3 times can actually be Tab'ing through 3 different mobs or players than what you see and expect, because the game sees 3 different targets than you do in various locations.

 

In TOR, I routinely grind/level with 2 boxes. The /follow Command doesn't work in TOR due to the above sync location problems mentioned. One client can't keep track of the other to allow a /follow function to operate properly and it quickly breaks sync. Day in and day out, what I see on two screens is:

 

• Avatar 1's screen - shows Avatar 2 ten feet ahead of him
  
• Avatar 2's screen - shows Avatar 1 is twenty feet ahead of her ...
  

 

... combined, a good 30 foot gap in perception, and lets not make any assumptions about what's going on with facing...

 

To Illustrate the issue another way:

• You're standing on a shore of a lava lake and want to jump from stone to stone to cross the lake, and the stones are in motion. When you see a stone 3 feet ahead of you to the left and everyone else, including the game, sees the stone in up to 16 other positions (15 other wz players and the server), no matter what you do, the probability of you actually jumping onto a stone is very low, and most likely you will be jumping straight into lava. The stone isn't where you see it is. That's how other players and mobs are from client to client and server. We all see something differently.

 

Another player describes this illusion of positions in Huttball:

You position yourself so that your knockback would throw your opponent into the flame/pool/ledge/whatever, and instead, they fly the opposite direction because your perceived location of their toon, is actually not their location as controlled by the game.

 

I have a rig of 5 boxes and monitors, and held most often 5 to 6 accounts in SWG (6), DDO (2), and LOTRO (5), where I would routinely level and grind mobs with my own alt armies. Not only did the /follow Command work perfectly across 5 avatars in perfect client-server sync, each client saw mob and player "location and facing, both" in the environment EXACTLY the same on every client screen.

 

In the screenshot URL'd below, is the rig mentioned above, with 5 accounts playing LOTRO. Each shows the 5 avatars in exactly the same place, facing exactly the same direction, while the camera angle may be different as I wasn't trying to make the point when I took the screenshot months ago. These 5 clients saw all players, all mobs, each other... in exactly the same spot, facing the same direction AT ALL TIMES.

 

URL - Rig and 5 accounts active simultaneously - I dress them the same - e.g. "how I know the sync is broken in TOR":

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk2/BlueDestinyCC/Rigs.png

 

The performance by TOR that can't sync clients and server player/mob positions as other MMO's can is a major departure from multiplayer combat fundamentals, and is a broken experience. This not only impacts multiplayer combat, but just grinding two avatars, viewing two monitors together, demonstrates the broken MMO experience where two players leveling together sees mobs very differently, with mobs as much as 30 feet apart from how the other perceived their location.

 

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IX - GEAR GRINDING ≠ ENJOYABLE END GAME

 

This game can never thrive unless this is reapproached, even if Bioware got everything else right (and addressed the Issues covered in this thread).

 

To expect players to play 80 hours a week to have time for grinding dailies, AND for grinding warzones levels of gear, AND for grinding levels of Ops gear ... all to enjoy the top line endgame - is like running a 10 minute mile pace to an objective that's moving away at a 6-minute mile's pace. As a player, you will never find satisfaction. Then, adding insult to injury, by the time any significant number of players arrive at the ability to enjoy and tackle endgame as a team, fully geared, Bioware raises the level cap and starts us on the gear grind mousewheel again.

 

It's a broken model, it's a bad model. We should find satisfaction and enjoyment in end game, not chase it indefinitely.

 

Define good endgame ... "gear grind", or "enjoyable gaming experiences involving group teamwork, class skills, and achievement" ? Bioware's focus for us on TOR is oriented to the former almost exclusively. It's a broken model that suggests that they can't keep players subscribed unless they're grinding a task (rather than enjoying team-oriented activity.)

 

For decades, gamers found great satisfaction in multiplayer combat and group combat - games such as Quake, Counterstrike, Tribes, etc. In those, you weren't chasing gear, you were enjoying the accomplishments of playing your classes well and leveraging teamwork to achieve victories - simply, it was fun team gaming.

 

Teamwork, victory through teamwork, communication, and skills. Here in TOR however, we're gear-gated from achieving team optimization and parity, or raid readiness - so that as a team, you can't focus on the highlighted elements, but have to instead constantly manage gear progression in all things. Not fun gaming, and limits accessibility and participation (more on the latter in a moment).

 

The rub is also that inevitably with most of these broken MMO-model approaches, that they raise the level cap and start you all over again grinding to the next max, before a vast majority of players even got to enjoy or beat existing content. The minority of players maybe spent some time on such content, but the majority wanted to and didn't for a myriad of reasons, most often due to time and opportunity, and group/Guild opportunity (see Section VI, above.)

 

So, endgame is a disappointing no-show for most, whether Ops or PvP. This isn't a matter of "easy mode", but rather grind and time requirements, and opportunity, to get players to a "level playing field" faster (and alt classes) - to then put skills and class knowledge to use to each players' challenge level and capability... Skill progression and Teamwork as determining factors rather than gating due to a career's worth of time available to grind gear.

 

Instead of giving us enormous grinds expecting us to play 80 hrs per week, only to see level cap increases, how about making content more accessible, less gear dependent or less grind to get same gear, so there is more opportunity and participation. With that, give us enjoyable content that we will look forward to participating with, more teamwork (integrated Voice Chat for teamwork with pugs) to enjoy, more satisfaction and achievement that isn't just gear oriented. Where gameplay itself is challenging and fun.

 

My clan didn't log in to CounterStrike every day for 2 years because it gave us gear... it was fun!

 

OK, so give us badges and banners and other bragging rights' perks to mark our progression. The difference is in accessibility. When we're all chasing and missing gear, we rarely "arrive" to a participation level where we can all enjoy together and employ our skills against various levels of challenge. Whereas if the gear grind is over MUCH sooner, we can engage content suited to our skill level progression much better, with more focus and clarity, and more flexibility.

 

 

• More focus and clarity - in that we're working as a team to hone our player and class skills without layering on alot of gear variability and hurdles, to master various challenge levels based on skills and teamwork alone.

 

 

• More flexibility - in that with a MUCH shorter gear grind, we can gear alts and be a more dynamic guild. Today, we routinely run into, "don't have another tank that's geared for that, can't do it." Where we should be instead is, "let me switch to my tank and we're ready to go."

Edited July 24, 2012 by Verdan

[Xorgith]

It could be that they are listening but just not informing us that they are working on some of the issues you spoke about.

 

The Warzones do need a good overhaul and perhaps an entire rethink on how to do PVP for SWTOR is needed.

 

We need things like:

 

1. CTF maps, yes more than one.

2. More Huttball maps, in the current Huttball map sorcerers can shine with the pull friendly ability, maybe other maps could allow other classes to shine. This would make it a lot more fun as well, endless Huttball map possibilities exist.

3. Take and Hold (T&H) maps that do not feel dull, flying in on the speeders is a fun idea the first time a player experiences it but it soon gets irritating. 3 capture points in T&H doesn't seem to be enough.

4. Warzones which focus on killing enemy players and no other objective to achieve victory.

5. Speed, running around while stuck in combat is just too slow.

6. PVP designed in a way to encourage the losing side to continue participating.

Edited April 10, 2012 by Xorgith

[kaboro]

Verdan, im sure you could have made an effort and shortened your post, you know cut to the essentials. If i wanted to read a novel, id read Dostoievsky or something, not a forum post.

No matter how smart, good and well written a forum post is, its not worth the effort to read that kind of wall of text, because in the end its just a forum post.

If i can draw a conclusion from your humongous post, its that you take games too seriously.

Engaged in gaming communities since the 80s? I might be wrong but mmos were just a flicker in mom's eye in those years, maybe not even that, so im not sure what you talking about, because SWTOR is a modern mmo so reference to the 80s doesnt help much.

Edited April 10, 2012 by kaboro

[mrObtuse]

THIS.

 

has every suggestion I have been concerned about to fix areas that lack engagement or are just a little broken.

 

If you also add the ability to create player+companion groups and challenges to play with these groups (flashpoint anyone? warzone type areas with crossover - useful reason to go there, materials, loot, commendation, but with potential for combat w other faction to win it)

[Lord_Ravenhurst]

OP: Very well structured, let´s hope BW takes a look at this!

[Verdan]

Thanks for the comments, let's hope so.

 

And Kab, sorry if there's too many words for you, but it is trimmed, and the content that's included is necessary to the subject. The source of the material is a compilation of posts that has been immediately buried in the inadequate Forums community structure, buried on page 50 before the ink was dry. It's only recently that I felt reasonably certain that I had all the Majors identified to do a summary post.

 

While the depth of the OP may not be for the casual forum browser who can't be expected to digest the depth of the above topics and considerations, the depth is very appropriate to a certain Dev to review extensively with Team Bioware stakeholders. If you do have time sometime to sit and consider the material with a cup of tea or coffee, I'd be interested what your thoughts would be, and whether you'd consider that SWTOR would be much stronger as an MMO and a business enterprise if these items were remedied...

[TUXs]

AMAZING post! There is so much I agree with. I haven't even finished reading it yet, but what I have so far is absolutely spot on.

[Verdan]

Thanks for the supporting comments!

[Ellipsys]

Again, my support.

[KyrbesCabur]

Pretty much what my Guild has been saying since before launch.

 

Well done.

[Alexia-Moi-Voss]

i agree, so bump

[JakkFrost]

Haven't read the whole thing yet, though what I've seen so far mostly makes sense. A few points I may disagree with, but I chalk those up to different personal tastes.

 

However, one thing I may not be understanding, but you seem to have wrong;

 

 

Names Across Factions

I have two avatars who went different directions. One is a Bounty Hunter, one is a Smuggler. They should be able to have the same last name, as they're brothers. Yet they cannot. Why not?

 

Legacy names are cross-faction, have been from the start.

[Verdan]

I was going to say that I am very disappointed by release 1.2, but I think it's more accurate to say that the release was almost a Zero to this player for relevance. For a major update touting Legacy, it did nothing to address the foundational MMO issues as posted in this thread, other than the appreciated UI features. It did zero relative to the MMO surname issues, and really fell flat on the major gaps in MMO expectations as covered in this thread. A wash out, if not a wipe out. Did nothing to inspire me to log in and do something with my level 50, which still has the legacy name disabled due to the last naming issue on the list and inability to correct it, and with a flat story and repetitive "do this and kill 15-50 mobs bonus" don't feel like grinding alts.

 

As the driving Force of 4 players/accounts in our house, none of the 4 have logged in since this thread was made, no inspiration to do so, and not sure this is panning out. Big disappointment.

 

Btw - do like the new website. It almost works now with all of our iDevices.

[Deli]

I really do hope Bioware read this and step up to their game design. Please add more depth, story, features and options for swtor. They need to add more stuffs from their "wall of crazy ideas" to make this game stand out from other MMO.

 

World PVP, robust guild management and rank rewards, need way more Warzones, player economy, housing, multi-player space combat, mini games, social activities etc.

[oMGitsree]

I find the pace of levelling WAAAY too fast. I have been way too high for most of the planets because I do everything. I pvp, I do all the pve stuff, I do space missions. If you do it all you are at least 4 levels too high for whatever planet you are on.

 

That is the only thing with your post that I have a problem with. Please don't adjust the xp gain. Please

[Kodosong]

The surname issue has been a big issue of mine for ages. I just find it weird that only one account can have a surname. As you state look at the phone book in any major city and you will find thousands of un-related people sharing the same surname and I just agree the same should apply to TOR.

 

Good post and agree with most of it especially playing Mario to get datacrons. I have tried for 30-40 mins to get some on toons on a US server yet when I tried them on Dalborra (AU server) I was able to get them almost effortlessly so it seems latency figures into it as well.

 

I know they are meant as a reward for exploration but really some are just insane and if you have any lag/latency or graphical issues you may never be able to get them no matter how skilled you may be.

[LG_XxLegacyxX]

This is a true Star Wars and MMO fan right here. Thanks Verdan! Hope BW reads this.

[Verdan]

This is a true Star Wars and MMO fan right here. Thanks Verdan! Hope BW reads this.

 

Thanks, LG, that made my day! It appears, as yourself, we have a number of SW/MMO fans posting here. If not for the way things get buried in these inadequately segmented forums, I suspect more of the community would weigh in. As it is, by page 2 of any thread I've ever seen, we'd have some flamers and naysayers, but thus far has been overtly supportive of these core issues.

 

Fingers crossed for engagement and improvement!

[Simbr]

Very good post, I agree with all of it ...even the parts i didn't read!

 

I didn't play my main for a few days when I hit legacy because I couldn't decide on a a suitable perma name for both Rep and Imp toons, that can't be right.

[McBinary]

I agree on almost every point you've made. I love this game, but these issues definitely have it lacking.

 

Great post, and great ideas. These are the issues, and you have clearly supported with suggestions on how to fix it.

 

I just hope they are reading this.

Edited April 20, 2012 by McBinary

[Boogety]

Wonderfully written OP.

 

I was nodding my head a lot along the way as I read through it, agreeing with many of the points. I hope dev(s) are paying attention!

 

There are a lot of posts/threads that clutter up the forums, but yours was extremely well put.

[Verdan]

Thanks for the additional support for the gameplay issues. It's appreciated.

[Grimoir]

I am in complete and utter support of your entire post OP. I can't say, "Thank You!" enough for taking the time and effort to compound the posts and input required for writing this all up. The wording is spectacular and I still can't get over the fact of how well you did at keeping things positive rather than complaining like 99% of the forums is prone to do.

 

I see no reason why the Devs should not simply quote this and create a weekly, or even a special impromptu, Q&A centered around your post. They would certainly do well for themselves by addressing these issues.

 

/signed

[Evilpuppy]

I agree on most things posted. I am in 100% agreence with the guild issue. This issue is not unique to SWTOR. However Bioware could be the first to try to address it.

 

There is a huge lack of accountability of players. Its become the nature of the internet. You can say what ever you want with out repercussion.

 

The last time I can recall being in a good guild was in EQ back in the year 2003 in a guild on the server The Rathe in a guild named Clan Bashemded

 

I had a miserable experience in WoW with guilds. I sucked it up so I could clear content and see the end game story lines... However much like many people commenting in this form. I am fed up with the status quo of guilds. When I first joined SWTOR I joined a guild.. however that was short lived. Currently not a single character on my account is in a guild.

 

For a lot of guilds its just a numbers game, get as many people in your guild as you can. Sometimes this is done by sending out invites to people randomly with out warning. Or Spamming chat with your add. I compare guilds today, with call centers. Your meat in a seat, Do you have a heart beat? Can you speak english? can you read? your hired. Show that you can think for yourself.. Your Fired!

Edited April 27, 2012 by Evilpuppy
adding

[Talon_strikes]

/Signed

 

A very well structured and well-written post! I will post my 2 cents later. Thank you for this amazing post!