What's Holding SWTOR Back and What Steps BioWare Needs to Take...

[Hambunctious]

There just isn't enough non-combat stuff for people to do. Variety is what is missing.

[AlyxDinas]

Variety is what is missing.

 

This is part of it, for sure. The game's biggest weakness is that it feels sterile. Adding life to it helps. Dynamic events like the rakghoul plague was one avenue. Providing players with various activities is another. This will partially be helped as content expands (ie. there are more operations, PvP maps, etc). But it also means adding other things as well.

[CarverX]

First off I would like to say I think this is the best game out there for many, many reasons. However, I still think it could do so much better.

 

Anyway, I think the biggest thing this game needs (after fixing messed up class specs) is to make it more of a community. Regardless of how many people are on Fleet or how many guilds there are, there is something missing about that kind of community feeling much, much lesser games have that draw you in and draw you back.

 

I'm not sure what that "thing" is exactly. Maybe we need personal funky shops to sell our gear with custom signs, guild flags, more community type things instead of getting an AFK warning just because you took too long to make a sandwich. What kind of community boots you off after such a short amount of time anyway? May as well say, "shoot something or log out" and I think in a nutshell that is what is keeping the SWTOR community from really blossoming to it's full potential, and from there the game

[Talon_strikes]

no, you said this:

 

and I am not necessarily disagreeing with you, but sort of commenting on the same point, when I mention that whether it needs it or not, the game can't be "saved," and that even if it tanks like some ordinary doomed game, this particular title cannot die. And also, along that same point, that BioWare will never change how they do things, and their future is entirely out of their hands.

Well yeah, I did say that, but I can agree that a game under a Star Wars title cannot really die until some new Star Wars MMO is made years and years from now.

 

I know you aren't disagreeing with me, and I'm sorry for lashing back like I did. I know you're trying to make your point, too, and I get that.

 

The only thing we can rely is hope for EAWare to change if they want more of a profit.

[Talon_strikes]

First off I would like to say I think this is the best game out there for many, many reasons. However, I still think it could do so much better.

 

Anyway, I think the biggest thing this game needs (after fixing messed up class specs) is to make it more of a community. Regardless of how many people are on Fleet or how many guilds there are, there is something missing about that kind of community feeling much, much lesser games have that draw you in and draw you back.

 

I'm not sure what that "thing" is exactly. Maybe we need personal funky shops to sell our gear with custom signs, guild flags, more community type things instead of getting an AFK warning just because you took too long to make a sandwich. What kind of community boots you off after such a short amount of time anyway? May as well say, "shoot something or log out" and I think in a nutshell that is what is keeping the SWTOR community from really blossoming to it's full potential, and from there the game

I wholeheartedly agree with you. When I think about it, there's also definitely something "invisible" crucial missing from SWTOR...

[Talon_strikes]

This is part of it, for sure. The game's biggest weakness is that it feels sterile. Adding life to it helps. Dynamic events like the rakghoul plague was one avenue. Providing players with various activities is another. This will partially be helped as content expands (ie. there are more operations, PvP maps, etc). But it also means adding other things as well.

That's also another issue BioWare fails to put in SWTOR.

 

Variety. Though many players did like SWTOR because of its story, many of the side quests get repetitive. Players will start space-barring through the voice acting and cutscenes, would make a choice in move on. Eventually, they start skipping bonus quests, and then, side quests in all. And because BioWare is focusing so much on its Story Pillar, I believe we'll be back at square one when all we'll be doing is rinse and repeat and the same old "new" FPs, WZs and Ops BioWare implemented—because they decided to focus on Story and give us more Chapters for our characters. There will be tons of players who will burn though it and start QQing again.

 

Also, I'm into PvP a lot and I believe SWTOR does lack in not only instanced, but Open World PvP, too.

[Bryyn]

What's holding SWTOR back is this frame of mind from the devs:

 

(article on Daniel Erickson on digitaltrends.com)

 

“What we always say is, before the game came out it was our game. As soon as it launched, it became the community’s game,” Erickson added. “The number one request we get with a bullet [in terms of] what people want more of, is story. They just want their story to keep going. They want to see more of The Old Republic, they want to see how the galaxy is developing, and they want to do it with their prime characters.”

[Talon_strikes]

What's holding SWTOR back is this frame of mind from the devs:

 

(article on Daniel Erickson on digitaltrends.com)

 

“What we always say is, before the game came out it was our game. As soon as it launched, it became the community’s game,” Erickson added. “The number one request we get with a bullet [in terms of] what people want more of, is story. They just want their story to keep going. They want to see more of The Old Republic, they want to see how the galaxy is developing, and they want to do it with their prime characters.”

Too bad that content gets burned through in about a week or two, and then its back to the same rinse and repeat process.

Edited July 19, 2012 by HomicidalWhales

[Talon_strikes]

Now since the layoffs from BioWare, I wonder how this will affect SWTOR.