Star Wars: The Old Republic – State of the Game

[Ejied]

When are we going to see the massive latency/input lag problems fixed?

 

Any news on dualspec?

 

I agree with what people are saying. The SUB price was NOT driving people away, it's the quality of the game. I've been playing since Closed Beta and this game feels like WOW with Star Wars Skins. I don't feel like I own anything in this Universe and I don't feel like I"m playing my own story, everything is predetermined.

 

I HATE the mini space game. You could take some lessons from Star Wars Galaxies. People LOVED building their own ships out of parts from crafters and they LOVED having furniture they could move around their ships and having player housing. The entire game feels like it's on rails and that's what's driving people away.

[SFaulkner]

Two things I'm looking for basically for the leveling experience. One was stated earlier, but different areas to level or different planets so each new alt doesn't have to do the same quests, over and over and over. I'm leveling my fourth 50, and I just can't stand doing the same quests.

 

The other thing that would make leveling so much more interesting, actually have the quest lines of each faction cross paths a lot more. I never see Imperials while I'm leveling cause their quest lines take up one half of the map, and mine take up the other half. You just don't run into each other unless you wan to explore, but then you take the chance of running into lots of the opposite faction which doesn't usually end well.

 

Oh, and Lag and Crashing... Lag spikes are unbearable at times. There was a time a couple days ago, where no one on fleet on our server could basically do anything. You couldn't move, running in spot, and couldn't click anything. All you could do was type in general for 30 seconds at a time, multiple times. Then there's the crashing.... since 1.4, I have crashed every single day I have played at least once. Usually it's not during boss fights in operations, but it does get annoying cause it takes like 5 minutes to load the game back up each time.

[vian]

Thank you for the update; it's good to get an idea of the Big Picture at the studio.

 

I'm not convinced that the subscription fee was the whole story behind people dropping subs; I think the days of people playing one game for months at a time are over. It's too crowded and interesting a marketplace, and people will flit back and forth between different things. I'm not sure whether F2P will be a solution for SWTOR, but I hope it is. People can flit back, pay for what they want, and flit away again at will. So, obviously, frequent updates and new content fits into this style of playing.

 

Thanks, too for the information on the APAC servers. Please consider a merge; OW PvP is purportedly non-existent on the PvP server anyhow, and there's no RP on Gav Daragon apart from what people organise in-guild, so I suspect the majority of players would be fine with a merge to PvE. Perhaps a merge, followed by transfers for those who prefer a particular play-type over a ping rate.

 

Unresolved questions:

• Single Gender Romances. You've said they are coming. Any timeline for that?
  
• Super Secret Space Project. Yes, I know it's a Secret. But some info would be Super.
  
• Mini-games; when are those Hutts going to get their acts into gear, and bring Pazaak into the casinos?

Edited November 6, 2012 by vian

[Kelbun]

Ah the meme continues. No Mr. Hickman, it wasn't "the price" of the subscription, it was "the quality of the service" for the price of the subscription that drove people away. In fact, your patch 1.4 "quality of life fixes" forced me back to World of Warcraft. Fix your game and tell us the truth.

 

EDIT: You know keeping legitimate complaints from your management only keeps them in the dark. SWTOR is not in the state they think it is. If you continue to delete posts that describe problems (like the graphics issues which make it near impossible for me to play your game since patch 1.4) they will continue to write fluff and spin pieces. You are fooling no one.

 

SOOOO true. The price isnt the issue as much as they think. I can play wow for $15 dollars a month, which since I subscribe to SWTor, I guess I am. They followed the wow model so closely guess what we got? Wowtor. Not that there arent things in swtor that I like better than wow, and thats why I am still playing swtor. It is however pretty much the same game.

I use the Pork fried rice analogy: I dont like onions, so the place that makes their pork fried rice without onions is where I am going to go. Really though, pork fried rice is pork fried rice where ever you go.

 

EDIT: End game gear grinds, PvP gear grinds, stacking stats, ....its been done. Yes the stories are good, some are great. Yes companion systems is fairly versatile and useful in game. Thats the big inovation? I watched these forums for a longtime before I signed up and watched the dreams of something different: No trinity, Statless modable gear, get dwindles down by corperate doche's into Wow in a star wars skin, which for all the "innovation" is what we got. I've said it before a, here it is again: To want to emmulate Wow success isnt bad, but you copied their game almost to the letter in mechanics.

 

My initial impression of Disney's emphasis on games in their business is, it doesn't look good for this game. I could be wrong, and it could go eitherway. They certainly have the money. If they care and have the balls and brains to come tear it up maybe this game can become something more than a passtime.

Edited November 6, 2012 by Kelbun

[steaktrooper]

The frequency of our Game Updates was way too slow. People were leaving because we were not releasing new content fast enough to keep up with the pace at which it was being consumed

 

Seems as though the devs have finally realized this.

[limenutpen]

Nice post!

 

I am from Europe but for the Oceanic server problem is it that hard to promote the game in other parts of Asia like Japan, Thai, Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

[LordAshuman]

I have a question:

 

However before I write the question I would like to post some rough assumptions on my behalf. Out of 10 players, about 8-9 of them would be there for the PvE content while only 1 of them would be there for the PvP content. There would be a few of those players that enjoy both, but they would have priority to one or the other. I am assuming these statistics are accurate from my own observations and from surveys done in previous MMO games.

 

So my question is as follows:

 

Assuming that at LEAST 10% of the player base is ONLY for PvP why is less than 10% of the content directly related to PvP.

 

And before I get the follow as an answer: "You got PvP weapon in 1.4"

 

They were a joke with barely an increase of +6-12 bonus power. The pure reason they were implemented is because they couldn't release a patch 'without' any content for PvP.

 

I was also going to make a comment about balance changes d but this comment is too long already, so I will save that for another time.

 

So in conclusion:

When will content changes be made with the amount of PvP players taken into account?

[DashaAdair]

Thank you for putting out a state of the game blog. You are going to have a tough job for awhile, but I do appreciate it.

 

I haven't quite picked out the format, but something that might help:

 

1. A short statement of the game's health. (We may not agree, but I think it's there.)

 

2. What went wrong (1-3 items), and what is in place to prevent it from happening again. (Here a detail or example of what is in place may inject more confidence into the discussion)

 

3. What is going well (1-3 items), and how you are going to maintain or leverage that for the future.

 

4. The next three to four things in development to get released in order from nearest to latest (I don't think you need to even say 'this fall', just have them in relative order). This will tell us what to look forward to, and give you fodder for future what is going well, and not so well sections. You can of course leave out surprises (like the rakghoul plague event and hold out and later sprinkle in things like mini-games) and then place those in to tide us over.

 

I have seen state of the game pieces from other companies and I really like them. I know it's tough right now, but keep at it. I know I'll be glad you did.

[rahadnak]

When are we going to see same gender relationships??

[Nemrodh]

1. Our game is awesome. People love it and want to play it.

 

2. The subscription requirement was driving away huge numbers of people who do not want to commit to paying monthly.

 

3. The frequency of our Game Updates was way too slow. People were leaving because we were not releasing new content fast enough to keep up with the pace at which it was being consumed.

 

1. the game is broken, with many many issues. I know my self and others have addressed, I know for a fact that even some bioware employees had agreed and posted about in the beta forums before launch. While it looks stunning, you have failed to understand the wants and needs of MMO players. And the idea of a deliverable product.

 

2. If you think that statement is true you should really retire now. as YOU clearly have no clue what the player base wants as players. While I know F2P can be a good thing. If it is controlled or structured by EA, its going to end up like so many other company's they have destroyed. in the trash and completely useless. the real issue is you served both customer service and game play at a substandard. Sorry the excuse that it was a *new game* and a freshly launched game is not a good enough excuse. You say you have a couple games under your belt and have been in the industry for 12 years. You would think with the amount time in MMO games and with the amount of MMO games out there you would by now understand what they want. And with the technology level be able to at least produce a game at the current fielded level of the MMO gaming not take steps backwards.

WoW wouldn't have 10million subs. EQ, L2 would not have lasted as long as they have. SWG still had subs until its forced closer. Other games that while they sucked still held on to subs and are able to continue functioning. And Eve one of the most brutal games out there still using a sub and slowly growing in players.

 

3. Again. You seem to be lost. It was not the issue at all. The problem was the content you put out was substandard and in some cases completely broken. I wont get in to the fact that what *bioware* said was going to be released and what was actually released was 2 completely different things.

 

On a side note. Instead of focusing on continuing to turn this in to a money grab for EA I.E. turn the game in to F2P, you should have been focusing on fixing the issues at hand and listening to the customer base that you forcefully shunned and pushed away and fix the game at hand.

 

PS. maybe you should have been the one in charge of the art department as the top tier gear is ugly as hell.. And by looking at your tattoo(or your tattooist) you have a better grasp at what looks cool then the current art department.

Also the BS about developers leaving and what not is just that BS. its better to not say anything at all then to put out false statements. it make us think you think we are idiots or tools and don't actually follow whats going on behind closed doors. Some of us live in austin and know bioware employees. And it bothers me to hear from my friend about the truth and then see lies posted.

Your *awards* mean nothing if the game is failing....

 

(PS: i apologize of for grammar errors and spelling.)

[phill-fry]

Whats the status of the SSSP, Is it even still happening A little info would be nice of whats to come.

[Darev]

Regarding population balances after F2P is implemented...

 

Please give it some time to balance out on its own before making changes. As someone who was here for the launch of the game when many, eventually un-needed, servers were added, I would hate to see the same problems occur after the transition.

[Bullzzeye]

Although I enjoy the game and have from day one, 2 things are serious concerns to me.

#1- the game is too easy. WAY too easy. There is very little challenge. Huge deals (like HK-51 or operations) that should take weeks to unravel, instead take a few days if not a few hours.

#2- PvP hacks. When the opposing team can score before you even reach mid-point there is a problem. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then look on the internet. There are tons of You Tube videos showing hacks and hacking players.

 

In short, we need more of a challenge, and you need a little more control of what happens.

[Evgen]

Is November considered Fall? Not all of it is in any case.

Running out of time on that one.

 

And about is APAC players. Thanks for nothing.

Instead of fixing the problem now and seeing how it goes and then maybe fixing it later, good to know you have taken the apathetic lazy route. Send a mail to every APAC player and ask them if they mind a server merge.

If 20% of them do, don't do it. If at least 80% do I think it's safe to assume it's the best thing to do.

You can always split them again later.

[Arkerus]

Thanks for the update. I appreciate the insight.

 

I was very surprised you covered the "developers leaving" topic. That's not normally an expected topic when it comes to "state of the game" as that is usually handled internally or at a company level. Interesting that you covered it.

 

I really like this game and I tend to stay for a while but I think we just need one more thing in game to do. I don't know what it should be or what exactly I even want at this time, but something else would be nice. I do not want some sandbox farm SWG ripoff but rather something else I can sink my time into.

 

Would you care to comment on PvP next time? Can anything be done for solo queues and people who want some kind of rank but don't play with a constant 7 man team?

 

What about the constant amount of stuns? It really does seem absurd at times. What do you think?

 

Thanks.

Edited November 6, 2012 by Arkerus

[Uber_the_Goober]

I too would like a bit more elaboration on the "bug testing". It's painfully obvious how some of the bugs couldn't have been missed and were often reported in great detail with absolutely no acknowledgement let alone fixing them. Did anyone bother playing the game before 1.4? So when the UI appears over the loading screen, what happens next? Obviously you push it to live anyway, but maybe a heads up? It's not like it was rare...it was EVERY loading screen. And the only result you get from players is "Oh boy another thing they broke. GG Bioware." If you tell people ahead of time, "Hey, our update has a few unintended effects, notably X, Y, and Z. We're working on it. Let us know if we missed anything." That would be great.

 

Do you guys (all of you, not just some of you, but everyone who is involved with the game) play it? Who are your characters? I imagine you couldn't tell us because you'd get mobbed in game with /whispers about pet issues. But then again, who's to say you can't just run a flashpoint, tell the group you're a dev, looking for issues with THAT flashpoint, and let them show you outright the specific things that they see on a daily basis and have them show you? You'll get a taste for class performance pretty quickly that way also.

 

Then maybe make all this public knowledge. The more you acknowledge the bugs and what you're doing to work on them the more loyalty you'll gain from your players. We're more likely to stick with a game that we feel a part of.

 

I don't mind paying my subscription - this is the best MMO out there right now. I also won't mind paying for stuff in the cash shop, provided it doesn't have an asinine price structure like the legacy unlocks do. But not all your players are as easygoing as me. Most need a bit more attention paid to them.

 

So do that.

[JCWilliams]

Thank you for the state of the game update! I appreciate the time you took out of your day to give it.....I hope that future updates might have a bit more to them.

 

With your background with DAOC a great MMO and comparing the two why does SWTOR still have the problems that it does? I played DAOC for many years, I never remember as many issues as you have here with SWTOR. sure the occasional bug would creep up but it was squashed quickly.

 

Another issue I have is the game engine its self I have played other mmo's meeting their minimum requirements and have been able to play them on HIGH quality graphics. I meet your requirements but have to play on low quality graphics. would this be due to the game engine that you chose to use or something else? What can be done to stream line this issue?

[JonathanCP]

PEOPLE!

Read better.

 

" I won’t get to everything all at once, but I’ll try to hit some of the big ones"

[CitizenofArathor]

End game is craptacular, everyone knows that's the reason. If they added minigames like Pazaak and Swoop Racing and other things to keep people busy, people would pay. I refuse to believe the financial issues the world currently faces are so bad that people can't pay a tiny subscription each month for something they enjoy.

 

..Sure there will be plenty of returners when F2P finally launches, but after being smacked in the face with the corralling restrictions which have been blatantly designed to make subbing a need instead of disguising it as a choice, they're going to barely last a week before going back to WoW, TSW, GW2, Rift, or EVE.

 

bleh. Anyway. You (Bioware/EA) get one shot at first impressions..

 

Bioware, EA, Lucas Arts/ Disney whatever, take note of the above commenters. They nailed it down.

Games like this is not only about Ops/Raids, FP's/Dungeons and WZ's/Battlegrounds. Sure, they're the main ingredient of MMORPG's alongside the conventional features, but not the magic that gets you players. Kind of like how someone who doesn't like horror movies is still going to watch a movie, but not a horror movie.

The former players you hope will return, are players who are likely playing other MMO's right now.

I believe they'll have, regarding to (new) stuff consisting of instanced group content in wich they either have to run through a predetermined path fighting the expected group of mobs, unsurprisingly closing in on the mandatory boss or fighting a bunch of other players, a stance like "seen it, been there, done that".

 

To add to the above quotes; pay attention to visuals. black spots in cutscenes, incompleted animations, weird animation/ cutscene sequences alongside de-evolving technical issues (features work fine on live, broken on PTS for next patch, ignored on forum, broken on live after patch, frequent and long maintenance, bye players).

And the new players, who might not even have played a MMO before, will not take crap either.

 

As for this article, I was expecting to see more about the effects of the Lucas Arts sale and SGRA's. Well, honestly not so much for the latter, as it seems Bioware cowards out of that. I suppose that's because this country's public opinion is swayed by Ned Flanders and his ilk.

Other than that, I would say you bravely picked up this IP. It's time you showed you still have the skill to wield Star Wars.

Edited November 6, 2012 by CitizenofArathor

[KarethRiker]

Props for the update. I like the transparency and I think admitting that you recognize the problems is important. I know alot here don't agree with your assessment, but I think the steps you are taking should solve some of the problems over time. F2P gets over the money burden, more content helps the boring burden. Hopefully we'll see alot more space, lifestyle games, etc as an added attraction.

 

Frankly I love the game. Have been frustrated at times and gone away for a week but come back. My single biggest complaint is the grinding time sinks inthe game. Taking a long run back to a boss after a wipe or having to travel back and forth across Dromund Kass or to the farthest point on Alderaan or Hoth on my 7th alt is a huge bummer. I'm practical and realize that old quests will not be changed, but I hope maybe we'll see faster speeders in the future for Legacy 50 or CC and maybe the Ops/FPS team can design shorter run backs.

 

I know they're coming, but more world events, randomized PVP maps, and new/varied end game PVE would be great for the game. My open question would be around crafting and if it is working the way the team envisioned.

[scullzomben]

As an APAC player, I am disgusted by your lazy "wait and see" approach. We have been suffering for months now. I'd love to see you try and level a character on our server, where the planets after the capital worlds hardly ever goes in to double digits. Or maybe on a fleet where the average number of players on is 50.

 

It is this kind of customer disservice that is driving people away from your game in droves.

Edited November 6, 2012 by scullzomben

[Lars_Bo]

Omg, *you*!?

 

I played DAoC and I saw it got wrecked into something that was sooo un- DAOC, as it could be.

 

I rejoiced when I saw that Warhammer Online was announced, but I got to play something that killed everything that the HUGE lore, afterall, could and should be able to create.

I was left with a mockery of what Warhammer Online should have been.

 

And now *you* are left with SWTOR!??

 

You ruined DAoC and with your own words, Warhammer Online!

 

I have only one thing to write:

 

ABANDON SHIP!!!!! NO RE-SUBS!!

[fushnchips]

Hi Jeff!

 

Right now the only new content we see when playing on secondary characters (alts) are those directly apart of the class quests. Are any plans in the works for alternative planetary questlines or additional quests for characters on their way to max level to boost the replay value of the game?

 

true true

Edited November 6, 2012 by elitenz

[saremun]

Hi and thanks for the information Jeff.

 

many people like the game because of starwars it self so we expect to see everything according to lore and movie and that brings me to my questions.

 

1.Are you going to change the eye color for dark side users to the yellow as in movies and lore?

2. are we going to see a real Space combat as in movies?

Edited November 6, 2012 by saremun

[fushnchips]

Give the Oceanic players the option of transfer to a server of there choice if they want to move again after that charge them. I am sick of waiting hours an hours for a HM to pop.

 

Waiting for F2P isn't going to help anyone due to all new players are not end game ready.