How many folks would be bothered if the VO was scaled back to only class quests?

[bootsakah]

Voice over/cut scene for me was too much. I like it for the main quest line and class quest, but after that it got really old and annoying. There also should be some option to disable VO's in FP's and when playing the game back thru a second time. They really didn't think about how players play MMO's, people replay content over and over and I can't think of any reason to see it again and again.

 

IMHO, they spent too much money and resources on voice actors/cut scenes when they should have concentrated on what it takes to keep people playing and resubbing each month. As it stands right now, all the bugs, sound issues, no group finder, no dual spec, no achievements, shrinking servers, etc. it's really hard for me to bother logging in anymore, games over for me for now. Maybe 6months down the road after it's not in beta anymore, I may come back.

[riskybeaver]

I'll be honest, their devotion to fully voiced is why we have an SPRPG bleeding subs, in fact get rid of it all and let us macro grind behind a cantina... I may roll an alt then. #ISPACEBARREDTHEWHOLEDARNTHING

[Alexi_son]

Another big annoyance I have with Voiceovers and cutscenes is all the delay time I spend for sometimes 20+ seconds waiting on the slowest guy in the group to even load the cutscene, then waiting for that one guy in the flashpoint who just refuses to spacebar through the things, or may be stuck loading, or whatever.

 

And that doesn't address that the entire VO is like watching a silent movie anyway most of the time.

 

It's more trouble than it is fun, and its annoying as hell to sit there and wait for someone else to finally load it.

[Kalfear]

It would bother me greatly.

 

same, the VO is the part of game EA got right!

 

Dont think ill ever be able to go back to reading quests in mmos

[Raji_Lev]

I think I've been more upset about losing change in a soda machine than I would be if the VA was scaled back to only class quests, or even chainsawed altogether.

[spencer_]

I recently picked up TERA since the game looked interesting, and SWTOR is what got me into MMOs in the first place. The complete lack of VO was kind of disheartening. I still play it because it is fun, and because its a good change of pace to go from space wizards to regular wizards, but its not as immersive as TOR is for me.

[Catch_TwentyTwo]

I don't think I would mind if the side quests and world quests were scaled back to being the classic wall of text to read rather than a full-blown cut-scene. I love the class stories and what VO does for them, but if it helped with development resources, I would not mind seeing the side and world quests scaled off of full VO.

 

Voice Acting was the deal cruncher for me. Take away that and the likelihood of my unsubbing would increase greatly.

[Kendaric]

I'd be bothered by it for sure. It's either full voice over or none at all, a hybrid approach won't cut it anymore.

 

The one thing I don't need/want to see ever again is the AoC Tortage effect... the main questline in AoC is voiced, as well as the complete starter island (Tortage), while the majority of sidequests consists of unvoiced cutscenes. This is incredibly annoying and completely immersion-breaking.

Edited May 24, 2012 by Kendaric

[Baptes]

Yeah I wouldn't mind at all if VO was class quests only. After trying to get numerous alts to 50 and failing due to just how damned sick I am of running the same stupid quests on the exact same planets with zero variation, if I only had to press 1 or 2 to choose lightside or darkside I probably wouldn't have given up as much. I don't want to have to read/hear quest texts/VO on my 7th playthrough of a planet. I JUST WANT AN NPC TO TELL ME TO BRING BACK 10 BANTHA ASSES AND GET IT THE **** OVER WITH!!!!!

[Overtone]

With the recent layoffs I wouldnt care.

 

I do like them but sometimes they are just boring, especially the single turn in quest ones. Hey go kill 10 of x for me, turns into a 2 minute talk explaining way to much. The main story arch and the classquests would be good enough.

[Amendial]

I wouldnt mind if they made more of the side quest as terminal quest, which would save on VO, and not really take away from what the game is now. THey could still add in VO major quest to the game and would lose nothing from the flow of the game. I think they have a ton of great VO content already, now if they just add a ton of drop box content this game would really be rocking.

[The_Passage]

Yeah, no thanks... worst idea ever. Don't like the voice acting? It's simple, don't play the game.

[JediNg]

I would be bothered.

[ChazDoit]

No point in asking, the money in VO was already invested.

 

Besides, some of the World Quest can even outshine the class quests (revanites anyone?)

Edited May 24, 2012 by ChazDoit

[Lamech]

It would bother me. If they scaled back the VO I would lose interest in those stories. The current text ones are minimal so that it works and isn't immersion breaking. To increase that would be a deal breaker for me. If the current side quests didn't have VO not only would I have skipped them but I would have lost interest by now.

 

On the subject of it increasing development time, didn't they already state they recorded a lot to have 'in the bank' as such for future content.

 

When AoC was released it was lauded for it's VO work and how immersive it made the game. Then past the initial starter zone it stopped and a lot of people were disappointed.

[Forgon]

It would bother me greatly.

 

This.

[Evensong]

It would be the end of SWTOR for me.

[Kendu]

If it meant they could spend resources on more sandbox type elements and high level content, housing, space combat, and all the other shiaat people are asking for then by all means dump the VO crap that i spacebar through anyways. Edited May 24, 2012 by Kendu

[LilSaihah]

Yeah, no thanks... worst idea ever. Don't like the voice acting? It's simple, don't play the game.

 

This is a great policy when it comes to managing your game.

 

I think the VAs could go on a bit long. I want the quest NPCs to quit the jibber-jabber and get on with telling me how many bear asses they need. I remember a quest on taris Empire: "hey buddy, go throw this grenade in that sniper nest". Information should be offered through more channels than just wordswordswords. Cutting this down would allow Bioware to retain the "fully VAed" claim while also saving time and delivering the quest content better.

Edited May 24, 2012 by LilSaihah

[Kendu]

Voice over/cut scene for me was too much. I like it for the main quest line and class quest, but after that it got really old and annoying. There also should be some option to disable VO's in FP's and when playing the game back thru a second time. They really didn't think about how players play MMO's, people replay content over and over and I can't think of any reason to see it again and again.

 

IMHO, they spent too much money and resources on voice actors/cut scenes when they should have concentrated on what it takes to keep people playing and resubbing each month. As it stands right now, all the bugs, sound issues, no group finder, no dual spec, no achievements, shrinking servers, etc. it's really hard for me to bother logging in anymore, games over for me for now. Maybe 6months down the road after it's not in beta anymore, I may come back.

 

pretty much the same way i feel. THATS IF they finally take their heads out of their arses and realize they dont know jack what players want in an mmo and implement the things we do want.

[GnatB]

You could argue the money part, but no coders are sitting in a recording studio capturing voice-overs. That has very little to do with the game being worked on by the professionals who code the game.

 

Even being able to argue the money part, the voice-overs probably have a budget of their own that was accounted for in the development cost.

 

I'm pretty sure all the time that goes into the recording session(s) for one of those cutscenes takes FAR longer than the time it takes for the scripters to script 'em out. (and yes, I've been involved in something similar) Coders don't do cutscenes. They make tools so other people can make them. (quickly).

 

And as for your money part, any such sub budget for voice overs is still coming out of the entire budget for the game.

 

edit: and of course, there's the old adage that time IS money.

 

 

Anyways, as for the OP. I wouldn't mind in the slightest if VO was removed entirely, as long as they keep the cutscenes w/ subtitles. The VO is entirely superfluous to the experience. And extremely costly. In time AND money.

Edited May 24, 2012 by GnatB

[Rouge]

I would be greatly bothered.

[FeelFlow]

I'd be really upset. The VO and story are amongst the key amazing features that make this game great.

[RAVM]

I wouldn't mind if they scaled it back some by having more bulletin board with drop off style quests, but still had some quest givers speaking.

 

No way to having any characters speak through a text window though. Can't add that to the game now, it would completely ruin it.

[metalgearyoda]

I don't think I would mind if the side quests and world quests were scaled back to being the classic wall of text to read rather than a full-blown cut-scene. I love the class stories and what VO does for them, but if it helped with development resources, I would not mind seeing the side and world quests scaled off of full VO.

 

I would feel betrayed.