This Game Wasn't Ready For Release...Was It?

[Diet-Hutt]

Let's be honest here.

 

As a paying costumer it baffles me how much this game lacked at launch, but you know what's even more surprising?

 

That we are being given the bare essentials of any basic MMO piecemeal style as if they are rewards and surprises.

 

LFG tools

Customizable UI

Color outfit changes so I don't look like patchwork the clown in poorly designed gear.

2 new battlegrounds

Couple flashpoints

Server Transfers...

 

"Patch 1.3 will usher in a group finder..."

 

 

Really? This needs to be ushered in?

I mean, these things aren't something I should be waiting for and doing back-flips when they finally arrive. This should have already been in place to retain me as a player for the REAL surprises.

 

I think at this point when my 32 days end, the best thing to do would be to step away from this game for six months and then take a look at where it stands.

 

Maybe after 1.3, 1.4, 1.5 etc, this game should have everything the other MMO's had for years already.

Then maybe the updates (or "catch-ups") will be done and changes that we can actually be excited about will finally arrive.

 

God willing...a better client and a lot less bugs will already be there.

 

After all the hype, and buying the special edition, I kind of feel pretty let down.

I hope this game turns around, because that 1.3 promo did nothing for me.

 

- DH

[Diet-Hutt]

To add:

 

The social gear thing would be fine, if I was able to get to that point at all now to wear any.

 

All my friends at launch are gone. I had to skip a lot of flashpoints on my toons because no one was around or willing to do them.

 

To top it off...I end up running low-level characters through Flashpoints on my 50's because I feel sorry watching them spam General Chat, only to give up and log out.

 

*Whisps low-level player.

 

ME: "Hey man, did you find anyone yet? I'll take you."

 

Player Not Found

 

I wonder how many just logged and never returned?

 

I'm thinking the LFG tool (among other things) that was needed months ago is too little too late for the players that tried to stick this game out, while it caught up with the rest of the gaming world.

 

- DH

[Phinion]

Yup was not in the game at launch and people said give them time. Some did and some did not. Many said give them time. Well I think almost 6 months is enough time. Time for me to move on.

[Wyer]

Really constructive, don't bother replying to ppl if the only thing your doing is attempting to get a rise out of them.

[JeramieCrowe]

You're confusing a 1-year-old MMO with a new one. No MMO has EVER launched with a LFG, for example. Nor a customizable UI. Nor appearance flexibility (TOR actually launched with some), etc. TOR even launched with more content than Rift.

 

So, was it ready for release? For another MMO, yes, it was.

[MiaRB]

no MMO is 100% finished with all the bells and whistles at launch. swtor had more than most at launch. even now, compared to other MMOs, has added more than most. not realistic to compare a new MMO to MMOs that have been out for years. but even if you look at some MMO's that have been out for a number of years, tor already has more and has done more to fix things that some others have. just look at STO, game has been out for a while, has switched to f2p model... but there is basically no hope for PVP in that game for example. PVP in that game has been busted since day one( and that is according to cryptic itself ).. so bad they gave up and only have one( yes one ) dev working on PVP.

 

changes/content/fixes might not come as fast as many want, but they are comming and BW is working on them and as i said, they have already added quite a bit and more is comming with 1.3 and then more content in 1.4 and i imagine even bigger suprises are in store for next year, based on some of the hints they have given in interviews.

[Kesica]

I was in the beta 6 mos before the release and alot of the testers posted on the forum about the game

 

not being ready.

 

Almost every month we had new client so character wipes and no time to test the end.

[JeramieCrowe]

Every MMO I've played over the last decade there were ALWAYS people saying "this game wasn't ready to be launched!" Every single time. Without fail.

 

Perhaps it's time to realize that there's no such thing as a "done" MMO?

[Sanxxx]

Given that features available at release, ILUM , Character Transfers (allegedly) were subsequently pulled probably not.

 

The release was timed for maximum box sales, fair business decision then, but now.........

[gojamesjo]

You're confusing a 1-year-old MMO with a new one. No MMO has EVER launched with a LFG, for example. Nor a customizable UI. Nor appearance flexibility (TOR actually launched with some), etc. TOR even launched with more content than Rift.

 

So, was it ready for release? For another MMO, yes, it was.

 

Tera launched with LFG tool.

[Leuthispar]

No, word is it got launched a year early due to investors and other big shots tired of delays and wanting to take advantage of December sales.

[Steele_dk]

Their story line was ready and thats what bw wanted us to enjoy and we did. BW is now just realising (or not) that a great singleplayer storyline is just not enough to keep ppl in a mmo game. So now all the tools comes and perhaps later we will get some more content to work with these tools.

[Drakkip]

You're confusing a 1-year-old MMO with a new one. No MMO has EVER launched with a LFG, for example. Nor a customizable UI. Nor appearance flexibility (TOR actually launched with some), etc. TOR even launched with more content than Rift.

 

So, was it ready for release? For another MMO, yes, it was.

 

Recent MMO's have launched with customizable UI's.... I honestly can't remember which one it was but Conan, WAR, AION, one of them you could move action bars and chat boxes. Although WoW did not "release" with a built in customizable UI, the UI could be modified ergo the UI was customizable.

 

Ready is a relative term, does the game play more or less, sure, so in that regard it could considered to be ready, however, for the claims of it being "revolutionary" if the game designers were aiming for that in the voice acting and quest cinematics, I'll concede that's not something other games have, however, the balance of the game really is sorely lacking. The PvP is a poor copy/paste of WoW, the levelling process is very linear and alting is boring to tears on the same faction.

 

For me, the voice acting doesn't make up for the rest of the poor all around game functionality.

[Mezla]

It was more than ready for release. It wasn't ready for Bioware management of it. They should've released it and gave it to some hobo on a street to run. He would've done a much better job.

[silvershadez]

Tera launched with LFG tool.

 

And it launched with a ****ed up PvP system and no battlegrounds too.

 

Not to mention there are lot's of issues with their LFG tool. Mostly it's a player issue tho.

[Dibdabs]

Amongst the many thing this game lacks, I'd SO VERY MUCH like to be able to rearrange the ability icons for my companions, and turn off ones that don't fit on the existing companion toolbar. For example (but not limited to!) I'd love to stop Mako covering me in Kolto gas ever other minute whether I need it or not.

[Drakkip]

Amongst the many thing this game lacks, I'd SO VERY MUCH like to be able to rearrange the ability icons for my companions, and turn off ones that don't fit on the existing companion toolbar. For example (but not limited to!) I'd love to stop Mako covering me in Kolto gas ever other minute whether I need it or not.

 

Yeah re-arranging companion abilities should be a no brainer to have been implemented.

 

My issues is that some of my classes don't have enough slots for all the abilities.... seriously I'd like to think the person in charge of that at BW can count.

Edited May 22, 2012 by Drakkip

[Onyx]

You're confusing a 1-year-old MMO with a new one. No MMO has EVER launched with a LFG, for example. Nor a customizable UI. Nor appearance flexibility (TOR actually launched with some), etc. TOR even launched with more content than Rift.

 

So, was it ready for release? For another MMO, yes, it was.

 

I agree on principle.

 

SWG had a customizable UI. But pretty much none of the others I am aware of have launched with one.

 

And as far as the rest of the other "must-have" features that folks complain about, it really needs to be put into perspective.

 

For example, when did the almighty LFG tool make its debut in "that other big MMO"? Years after development had started on this game and about six months before this game entered beta. In other words, roughly two and a half years ago.

 

Sure things like UI customization was exceptionally high on my list of "it really should have had at launch", but was it a completely make-or-break thing? No. (However it was definitely one of the most annoying things for me.)

 

MMOs are continually evolving. They are never finished. And some of it is all about timing. Had development started a couple years later for TOR, my bet is that we might have had a LFG tool when the game would have launched . . . sometime next year.

[Amarinth]

Tera launched with LFG tool.

 

TERA here in the west is a re-launch of a title that already launched well over a year ago in Korea, so they've had plenty of time to polish up and add more features in between. It's hardly fair comparing a re-release to a first release.

 

Every MMO I've played over the last decade there were ALWAYS people saying "this game wasn't ready to be launched!" Every single time. Without fail.

 

Perhaps it's time to realize that there's no such thing as a "done" MMO?

 

This.

[demotivator]

To add:

 

The social gear thing would be fine, if I was able to get to that point at all now to wear any.

 

All my friends at launch are gone. I had to skip a lot of flashpoints on my toons because no one was around or willing to do them.

 

To top it off...I end up running low-level characters through Flashpoints on my 50's because I feel sorry watching them spam General Chat, only to give up and log out.

 

*Whisps low-level player.

 

ME: "Hey man, did you find anyone yet? I'll take you."

 

Player Not Found

 

I wonder how many just logged and never returned?

 

I'm thinking the LFG tool (among other things) that was needed months ago is too little too late for the players that tried to stick this game out, while it caught up with the rest of the gaming world.

 

- DH

 

Definitely there needs to be incentives to run flashpoints, those of us who have been around since launch usually have been lucky to run them - at least the early ones - but even I have never stepped in the late flashpoints except the False Emperor, I guess because this one is more iconic with HK-47 and Malgus hence it holds more interest. Anything in the lvl 40-50 bracket, Directive 7, Colicoid War Games, etc. I never saw these because no one longer care about it.

Edited May 22, 2012 by demotivator

[MadBlue]

Tera launched with LFG tool.

 

Then again, Tera was out for well over a year in North Korea before it was released in the West, and it didn't include a LFG function until 10 months after launch. What was released in the West in May was a game polished by over a year of live gameplay and patches.

[Kalfear]

I was in the beta 6 mos before the release and alot of the testers posted on the forum about the game

 

not being ready.

 

Almost every month we had new client so character wipes and no time to test the end.

 

yuppers

 

I managed to make multi 30 somethings, a 40 and a 47 through all the wipes!

Never did dee illum or past spaceport of Corellia (though I LOVE Corellia now to be fair)

 

Also in closed beta we had REALLY STRONG AND ACTIVE server communities. So all this no grouping wasnt a issue. Everyone spoke in game and everyone grouped in game.

 

Was talking in emails to a fellow tester from closed beta and we both agree the experience in beta was stronger then the experience in retail because of the active server communities in beta.

 

Total night and day mentalities and experiences.

[Oscibi]

You're confusing a 1-year-old MMO with a new one. No MMO has EVER launched with a LFG, for example. Nor a customizable UI. Nor appearance flexibility (TOR actually launched with some), etc. TOR even launched with more content than Rift.

 

So, was it ready for release? For another MMO, yes, it was.

 

Yes but this MMO was released after. How hard is it to look around at other mmos and see what they have and what could be useful to your game?

[Malanoth]

To all the guys that say SWTOR was ready, no game ships fully ready, yada, yada, yada.... I think you're all being really blinkered about it. Maybe this is your first MMO, maybe your an MMO veteran that just doesn't care. The game was not ready feature-wise. I cannot argue the content was lacking as all MMO start with a content ceiling and it evolves from there. But feature-wise SWTOR was definitely very poor. I get the Dev's were working to a timetable with EA monkeys on their backs but the game was simply not ready when it shipped. Thats why the subscriber base is shockingly low. SWTOR should had taken 30% to 50% of players away from WoW but due to its lack of features (not content - the two are entirely seperate entities) the game has flopped. All the postive, success stories you hear from the Dev team is nothing more than lip service and playdown. Truth is they are totally disappointed about the loss of 400,000 subscribers from an already shockingly low playerbase. Here's my snippet from the 'Unsubscribers' thread. it kind of sums it all up;

 

I unsubbed today.

 

My guild has disbanded. It had been together for 3 years. I did not know any bigger fan of the game than our GM. He was first to go. I fell in battle today. I cannot be arsed to get back up and fight any more. A game dev cannot release an MMO in todays climate that does not match the feature-set other MMO's have and SWTOR feels like an unevolved 3+ year old game.

 

How long must players wait to get the features that should be in the game today? Another 2 years? No thanks. I have many reasons for quitting. 6 of those are (in no particular order).

 

No dual spec

No raid and guild tools

No Dungeon finder

No equipment/gear change manager

No spell/proc/ability alert ui element.

Horrible PvP on all fronts.

 

I could literally go on and on on the shortfalls this game has. It has let the SW community down dreadfully. I hope you guys that tough it out seriously get what you want and enjoy the game, but I see only doom and gloom and an ever declining playerbase fed up with the lack of ingame features and all the other things that have been mentioned on these forums ad-nauseum. SWTOR has failed. And that is a crying shame.

Edited May 22, 2012 by Malanoth

[stineo]

Every MMO I've played over the last decade there were ALWAYS people saying "this game wasn't ready to be launched!" Every single time. Without fail.

 

Perhaps it's time to realize that there's no such thing as a "done" MMO?

 

Exactly. This is one of the reasons why I hate what Blizzard did eventually to the MMO community. It destroyed all challenge and now caters to every whim of whoever cries out the loudest.

 

WoW was the answer to the EQ1 whiners and causals who could not handle a challenge. Ironically, some of the top players of EQ1 were hired by Blizzard at the time to make thier game more causal friendly. So they made a game where you can single handedly level your character to max level and also in half or less the time. We were use to finding most mobs in the EQ1 were Heroic in level. Meaning, if you wanted to level, you had to find a group (WITHOUT GROUP FINDER). In vanilla WoW, you only needed 40 players to form a raid!! I say again, only 40 players! We were use to 72 man raids. In EQ1, we only had 1 or 2 elite guilds on each server. In order to survive in this online community, and wanted to succeed in end game. You had to be a pretty good player. Players in those guilds were either villians and some were rock stars in those given communities. That guild tag over your character was a badge of honor. Again, it build community.

 

But thanks to Blizzard dumbing down the challenge of the MMO market. Now the current MMO community which seems to be filled with these WoW vets, into the fast food customers of MMOs. Without fail all the new MMOs, have these WoW drones expecting all these dumbed down features that ironically destroys communities not builds them.

 

I am now use to the fast food MMO market. Where these stupid "features" like group/raid finder, "whatever you can think of" meters are expected. I can understand some people want to just log in SWTOR and play an hour or so and still feel like you achieved something. It's part of the MMO community in general. THanks Blizzard! :/

 

However, SWTOR has been a breath of fresh air for me. Sure, it's not as hard as the older MMO games that I enjoyed in my past (like EQ1, DAoC, etc.) but it has some really COOL and new features like companions, and story arcs that actually make you feel important. I can't wait to see what the future holds for characters. BUT I can see slowly, that the WoW drones are changing this game into a true WoW clone. With group/raid finder, dps meters, etc. What else do they have to waste dev time on these stupid features that these fairweather players want. Happened to Rift, the devs dumbed down thier game and those people still quit after they put those features in.

 

In other words, you can't please these kids...