Dymensia Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 At the risk of sounding like a downer (I'm really not, I love this game): I believe introducing a little more whimsy in certain areas would keep players excited about the "little things" for much longer. Pets ------- I was talking to my wife about why she never bothered to try to get the extra pets from the guide on a fan site (she was a HUGE pet collecter years ago when we played WoW) and she said they weren't interesting enough. There are plenty of pets in WoW that are creatures you find larger versions of in game, and even a few that are just reskins of another pet already in game, but most of them have unique character. They really went the extra mile by giving some of them additional animations now too. One thing that I'd like to see a lot more of with pets in TOR is making sure they are meaningful based on where they come from. A mouse droid that comes from a security vendor makes sense, but a mini-sandcrawler that comes from a light side vendor? When I think of light side pets I don't think of Jawa vehicles, I think of soft, fluffy things. For the dark side there are a TON of evil creatures like the Hssiss that are actual representations of the dark side in critter. Another thing is that they need to quit offering reskins of the same pets all the time. It makes people who have one less likely to go for another, so why waste time implimenting dramatic ways to attain these pets and then offer a reskinned version of it in the mail just because people have an active account? Gear ------- Gear suffers a similar affliction to pets in TOR. They do a pretty good job offering the "traditional look" for most classes as moddable gear, but there's not a lot of gear themed after where it comes from. Additionally, with the expense of swapping mods it gets really annoying if you want to preserve a look but also earn upgrades even somewhat regularly. I posted a possible solution to that here: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=526217 In addition to the theme being off, there's the problem of nothing being unique. If you want moddable gear shells to be something players will jump through hoops for you need to make trooper gear designs that vary from "stormtrooper gear of some color, possibly with spikes or missiles on it". Throw in some Eshkaa looking battle armor. Let people choose if their character looks like a trooper "should" or if they want to stand out and look like some road warrior from Mad Max. It's evident people want to break the mold by the fact you see plenty of Jedi players who have spent the cash to use a moddable vibroblade instead of the traditional lightsaber. While they're at it, put in some gear that doesn't change when different factions wear it. I understand most people think of black with red accents when they think of the Empire, but there are plenty of Imperial citizens who dress differently. I have seen a LOT of posts where people are complaining about all the brown and white on the Republic fleet. Personally, I like the traditional look, but seeing a wider variety of colors on the fleet would do wonders to keep it from feeling drab. Content --------- Everything you do in this game is significant. You can't go 5 meters on a planet without someone coming to you all emotional or with deep political import over what they want you to do. In a way that sets a perfect mood. My character felt meaningful from level 1 all the way through the end game content. I was glad I never had to gather meat for someone who was hungry, but still too lazy to get up and get it themselves (aside from the baby fleshraider, why couldn't that thing just get off it's butt and find a job?!) I think of this problem every time I hear someone complaining that the world of TOR doesn't feel alive. It is alive. There are NPCs living out their lives that aren't there for any mission giving or vending reasons. There are enemy factions duking it out on most planets. Companions have personal comments about just about everything. These are things I rarely saw in other games (though it's becoming more common now). Instead, for me, the problem is that the galaxy lacks contrast and that makes this "life" feel artificial. There are plenty of celebrations in the Star Wars universe. Pretty much any time something great happens in the movies there's a huge, city-wide party afterward. The books have those as well, but also have moments where even the most extreme of heroes/villians just kicked back and enjoyed things like pet expos with the family, ballroom dance parties with senators, a night on the town with their spouse, etc... I'm not talking about after they'd hung up their capes and retired to a life of relaxation. They just took some personal time in the middle of everything because that is part of life. That's what TOR is lacking. The only time something rare happens in TOR is when it's another dire, galaxy shattering event introducing some new operation content. The worst part about this design is that the content really can't be repeated. Who wouldn't think it's weird if the Gree fleet showed up again next year and we had to collect the same items for the criminal organization again? On the other hand, if there was a ballroom dance in the senate tower and you could go and drink the punch, perhaps have a mini-game where you have to click correctly to complete a dance with a senator who gives you a reward, but could also participate in finding Imperial bugs for rewards it wouldn't be so strange if you saw this happen again in a few months to a year. It also wouldn't be unusual for planet specific holidays to happen yearly. There's a whole list of them http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Holiday that would make people go to various planets they otherwise haven't visited since they leveled past it, and participate in some frivallous, silly event that they could re-run every year without sigificant increases in development time. Enemies --------- With all the dangerious creatures in the Star Wars universe why do we spend almost all our time fighting humaniods and droids? I realize there are exceptions, but I'd like to see a more healthy mix. Alderaan is a fairly natural environment, but I still only killed maybe 5 things that weren't sentient or made by sentients. I'm guessing he reason for this is that it's hard to have a reason to kill mindless creatures that doesn't end up being just "save this village from attacks" or "we need to collect something from them" and that's a legitimate concern (it gets even more old than killing droids over and over). What I propose is that these creatures drop farmable rare items. Things like pets and moddable gear with unique looks. People who want to can slaughter endlessly, but it's not the game's "fault" if they get bored of killing Ack Dog #5,000 because it's not necessary or even prudent for the sake of progression. Sorry for the huge wall of text. Hopefully this Summary makes up for it. Summary --------- Overall, a bit more time designing models for various things and a touch of creativity and whimsy could add a lot of interest for players where they were previously settled into a rut of *always* saving the galaxy. It's important for our characters to feel like heroes and TOR does that better than any other game I've ever played. However, it's important that they feel like people as well. Add some content that isn't about saving the world so people can experience the personal, cultural, and eccentric side of Star Wars along with the heroic, political, and dangerous side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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