Why does Bioware do this

[Jeweledleah]

Both the Seeker Droid and Macrobinoculars quest series would be fine if they didn't require a group at the end. They would be exactly what they should be, which is a potentially fun diversion. I treated them like the space missions. They were just something to do when you weren't busy doing anything else. Then, "SURPRISE! You need a group!"

 

 

this basically.

 

I'm very much all for group content in MMO's. bring it on.

 

what i'm NOT for is enforced group content at the end of a long solo chain that cannot even be completed unless all or most of your group is on the same exact part of the chain.

 

I have actually completed both chains, empire side. because having read up on it, before starting a few friends and I decided to do this together. none of us are particularly excited about doing that chain again, so alts, or even pubside? is basically out. and even if I do decide to proceed with the chain, chances are, I won't be able to finish it.

 

because pugging 4 man content, that is restricted to people who did the same chain and is NOT repeatable to boot? is a bad design choice.

Edited August 19, 2013 by Jeweledleah

[CKHelseth]

The problem with the Macro Droid and Seeker Droid quests isn't that the final quest series parts are difficult to do with the right group. It's that it's nearly impossible to GET a group to do them at all.[/b].

 

You could join a guild or at least foster good relationships with other players who would then be more than happy to help you...

 

You know, like you are supposed to do in an MMO...

[Callaron]

because pugging 4 man content, that is restricted to people who did the same chain and is NOT repeatable to boot? is a bad design choice.

 

I hope they'll eventually turn them into solo quests, or at the very least make them repeatable - in the latter case I'd feel less bad about bugging guildies to do it at least.

[manwoodsal]

Good to hear that some people are like me as thinking about getting throw into something big like that makes it so hard. Also when they scale some things to things that even two players can't even take down as it happen to heal so very fast. Also what about there use of powers. They can throw down powers and kicks back over and over again non stop but can we do that.. NO.. We have to wait for a timer.. They don't.

[Damask_Rose]

You could join a guild or at least foster good relationships with other players who would then be more than happy to help you...

 

You know, like you are supposed to do in an MMO...

 

The problem is, for them to help they need to be on a character who hasn't finished the series and get to the same point in the quest as you. They can't just hop on any old lvl 55 they have laying around and pitch in.

[CKHelseth]

The problem is, for them to help they need to be on a character who hasn't finished the series and get to the same point in the quest as you. They can't just hop on any old lvl 55 they have laying around and pitch in.

 

I have helped a number of guildies finish the seeker droid group mission at the end after I was long done with it.

 

I can't remember if the macro mission has some silly restrictions like everyone has to be on the mission but I didn't think so.

[GalacticKegger]

I do understand that a lot but when they seem to total go out of there way to make it so very super hard for just for some casual players to go anything at all. Even when they scale things some of the things are to hard for some class to even do. Or can't even do it without help.

The SWTOR MMORPG is designed to enable Star Wars fans specifically, and both Sci-fi gamers & MMO aficionados in general, to play together - en mass in a digital universe. Hence the Mega Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game genre's MMO acronym. SW's developers were simply considerate enough to make a large part of the game single player for people who don't like playing with other people. Personally, a sad social commentary on its own merits.

 

Advanced aspects of any multiplayer game are supposed to be hard, especially for soloists. Which is why we were given companions. Gear them up as well as your toon and you'll find more content to be accessible. That includes "Elder Game" special events.

 

I'm a casual player, as is my wife. We two (and our companions) have completed every normal flashpoint, and are close to completing [HARD] D7 ... just trying to figure out how to properly micro the companions for DPSing the processor cores while keeping them out of turret fire. Our end game toons' COMPANIONS are geared to 146 minimum. Just takes awhile. If gearing up in an MMO feels like it takes too long, then there's always Xbox.

Edited August 19, 2013 by GalacticKegger

[morfius]

Only time I was asking this question was when seen how dependable on jump & run MB series are... engine is handling this very bad & my wife hate those type of games.

So I had to switch PCs ... just to move a character.

Incredibly annoying... and will not finish it at all (we have friends & guild for grouping and finished SD series and so many more group/raid content).

Jump & run have no place in MMO content except mini games - as space currently are.

[OriginSucks]

I understand what the OP is saying.

To me much of the game feels tedious. I love the individual story lines and I feel this is an area where TOR stands above all the rest, and I don't mind a challenge (which is why I love the souls games). However, the meager rewards in TOR rarely make the challenge worth it.

 

I also find gearing out my companion while leveling to be a burden. They really should have supplied your companions with gear that levels with them, never the best gear for their level, but adequate enough that you don't have to hunt down gear for them every 5 levels or so, so that they don't get creamed by 2 strong enemies(not elite enemies, of which there seems to be an over abundance in the later zones).

 

Star Wars is supposed to be epic, but TOR rarely ever feels that way.

[Arvig]

Good to hear that some people are like me as thinking about getting throw into something big like that makes it so hard. Also when they scale some things to things that even two players can't even take down as it happen to heal so very fast. Also what about there use of powers. They can throw down powers and kicks back over and over again non stop but can we do that.. NO.. We have to wait for a timer.. They don't.

 

Well, to be fair I haven't completed the binoculars series but I did the Seeker Droid, and I followed the exact suggestions I gave in my second thread. My guildmate I did the solo parts with wasn't around when I did my H4 (I knew she wouldn't mind if I finished on my own, and the same thing if she did before me), but I did have three friends outside of my guild help. None needed the quest, one I know had completed it, not sure on the other two. So one doesn't have to NEED the quest to help as an aside, at least based on my experience.

 

So again, my suggestion is to find friends in game and/or find a guild that suits your playing style that is fairly active. I'll say again, MMO's are meant to be social experiences.

 

As for not being able to handle the solo content of these two series (which is what you seem to be saying), well again to be fair I mostly did duo the Seeker Droid series, but that was because a guildmate also wanted to do it. The Binoculars, for the solo quests I did completly solo. And again, although I am probably less of a casual player then you, I'm not in the top end game gear since I don't do ops except very rarely. I had no issues. I'm not trying to be insulting but if you're not handling the solo parts alone or even worse yet duoing, you're undergeared. And it sounds like aren't using any interupts to stop stuns, healing and so forth. Maybe step away from this series, get some better gear via let's say flashpoints and other quests that give elite coms (Makeb weekly series for instance), or if you're not even up to level 66 gear, basic coms. And when soloing stuff, try using your interupts.

[ChrisMattar]

I completely disagree with you.

First liek many said it is a multiplayer game, so join a guild, second it really isnt a hard game at all when you know your class, and third you don't HAVE to do all quests. That being said I took my sweet time with droid and binocular missions till i hit the H4s. at this point I had two options.

1- Be in a guild and have friends boost me

2- Ask in General chat for people in my situation

 

I tried option 2 first and was able to gather a group of people within 10minutes, and this was last week mind you.

Later in the week I did the H4s on the opposite faction the same way.

And another thing, one of my guildmates soloed the first H4 with jumping and killed last boss with his comp.

So that first heroic is soloable as well.

 

The large majority of people will agree that the game is in fact too easy. The only challenging parts are Nightmare mode ops.

 

Would the big red button also help your comprehension?

 

The problem with the Macro Droid and Seeker Droid quests isn't that the final quest series parts are difficult to do with the right group. It's that it's nearly impossible to GET a group to do them at all.

 

99% of the Macro Droid and Seeker Droid stuff is tedious single-player stuff (that apparently very few people want to do) followed by the final 1% that beats the heck out of "average" gamers. (by average, I mean the average players on the servers)

 

I can't tell you how frustrating it is to have the final series take so ridiculously long, be so unforgiving to leave and come back to, etc. The jumping part broke up three groups. As long as it took to get people even to try to bother, it was all that more painful to see them bail when the fourth fell off for the tenth time in a row. Then, even if you manage to complete the various stages, someone has to bail because of life matters they have to attend to.

 

Good luck finding someone who is at exactly the right step that you are. I know people who've done the first two parts at least six times, had their groups bail on the final encounter, then start all over on the first two parts again once they found new people.

 

People are so unreliable in MMOGs these days that these quests are more like "raid" or "guild" quests that have no business being tacked onto the end of what started out to seem like casual solo content.

Edited August 19, 2013 by ChrisMattar

[AlrikFassbauer]

99% of the Macro Droid and Seeker Droid stuff is tedious single-player stuff (that apparently very few people want to do) followed by the final 1% that beats the heck out of "average" gamers. (by average, I mean the average players on the servers)

 

These quests are some of the only points left for me keeping me away from labelling SWTOR an "hack & slay Action-RPG".

 

Have you never played any proper Adventure game ? Monkey Island ? In this kind of games, the - sometimes even literal - "seek for an answer" is required to play the whole game.

 

But nowadays - people just don't want to do this kind of stuff. That's why LucasArts stopped doing adventure Games long ago, Sierra On-Line has vanished, Blizzard has risen, and everyone believes that "riddles" should be totally banned from every "serious game" - mostly from shooters.

 

Solving riddles has become some kind of an "uncool" deathmark for ANY game nowadays. If it has riddles included - it will most likely not sell. Because people don't want to do that "tedious stuff" anymore. Avction, action, action everywhere instead.

 

Sad times.

[ImpactHound]

The SWTOR MMORPG is designed to enable Star Wars fans specifically, and both Sci-fi gamers & MMO aficionados in general, to play together - en mass in a digital universe. Hence the Mega Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game genre's MMO acronym.

 

Mega? What? It's Massively in the U.S.

[ivanhedgehog]

Why does the Bioware try to make this game painful to play. They add things like the Macrobinocular and the seeker droid.. But then end up making it so very hard and pain for just some normal play to try and finish them. I don't play much in groups.. Maybe a group of two with a friend but to force it to be super hard even for two to even do.. I don't under stand this.

 

dont bother with the seeker droid, they nerfed that so badly it isnt worth wasting time on. The seeker areas are deserted and unused.

[AlienEyeTX]

Why does the Bioware try to make this game painful to play. They add things like the Macrobinocular and the seeker droid.. But then end up making it so very hard and pain for just some normal play to try and finish them. I don't play much in groups.. Maybe a group of two with a friend but to force it to be super hard even for two to even do.. I don't under stand this.

 

I agree with this. The reason I agree is that it starts out as solo content and then, BAM!, they just switch it up to Heroic 4. What's up with that? There's plenty of group content in stand-alone heroics, FPs, OPs, and WZs. I really don't understand why they pulled the switch in the middle of these arcs.

[morfius]

dont bother with the seeker droid, they nerfed that so badly it isnt worth wasting time on. The seeker areas are deserted and unused.

 

Tharan Cedrax in full Dreadseed with red-white dye & Imp Zabrak Shadow in red-white Valiant Jedi + I am pacifist = priceless

(Red-Black would be better if VJ haven't had those non-colorable metal pieces).

Dreadseed headgear + Rep/Imp huttball set = no clipping and very fun outlook.

Explorer is a very nice mount (I know it is coming in CM packs recolored... )

 

New digging setup is stupid (5 credits junk, grade 10 mats in common case & grade 9 mats locking site) ... but still worth some time.

[Phyreblade]

The jumping part broke up three groups. As long as it took to get people even to try to bother, it was all that more painful to see them bail when the fourth fell off for the tenth time in a row. Then, even if you manage to complete the various stages, someone has to bail because of life matters they have to attend to.[/b].

 

That "jump part" was the absolute best part of the entire quest chain, imo. I absolutely LOVED it! Honestly, it sounds like you guys didn't work together as an effective group, as it only takes ONE guy in the group to get ahead to the next "big transport" and then anyone who "falls" can auto-travel to that point where the guy in lead already reached. We got our four people through to the end in about fifteen measly minutes, painless and fun!

[CosmicKat]

A couple of design issues cause and compound the OP's problems.

 

1) The game is ridiculously easy for much of it. If you follow the linear path, you will be overlevelled, making it even easier. This lack of challenge can then be compounded if the player chooses to pass over Heroics. They just simply never learn to group so when they have to, it can be difficult to adapt.

 

2) The combat is "action" paced. Upping the challenge without slowing the pace of combat means that if it suddenly gets hard, it goes bad fast, not allowing players to compensate/learn on the fly.

 

3) A giant emphasis on solo play means many players do not ever group, and never accumulate "friends" with whom to group. Finding a group in TOR can take far longer than it did in EQ, a game that was notorious for it.

 

4) No side-kicking/mentoring means that players can only group within a narrow level range, further limiting grouping options. This is an MMO "problem" that was fixed a decade ago but that solution was ignored in design.

[Phyreblade]

The problem is, for them to help they need to be on a character who hasn't finished the series and get to the same point in the quest as you. They can't just hop on any old lvl 55 they have laying around and pitch in.

 

That isn't true. My healer has healed those group quests for several guildies numerous times, even having completed it already. I've never had issues getting in there "just to help".

[Jrea]

Agree,

 

Difficulty needs to stay the same all the way through. Trying to finish a solo mission chain with an insanely hard heroic just don't work. Most people just keep these in their inventory's on the off chance at some point they will be easier. It reminds me of the Heroic Missions on Voss. Very easy until the last boss, which you need some crazy "operation level" skills to complete (before expansion)

 

And just to everyone who is saying how easy this stuff was/is. I know you can kill Hard Mod Opp Bosses with a good hard sneeze, but most of us don't have those kind of skills. And honestly, if you "really" do think these heroics were easy then I am afraid you were getting carried.

[Phyreblade]

Agree,

 

Difficulty needs to stay the same all the way through. Trying to finish a solo mission chain with an insanely hard heroic just don't work. Most people just keep these in their inventory's on the off chance at some point they will be easier. It reminds me of the Heroic Missions on Voss. Very easy until the last boss, which you need some crazy "operation level" skills to complete (before expansion)

 

And just to everyone who is saying how easy this stuff was/is. I know you can kill Hard Mod Opp Bosses with a good hard sneeze, but most of us don't have those kind of skills. And honestly, if you "really" do think these heroics were easy then I am afraid you were getting carried.

 

LOL, I don't think the quest chains were easy at all. What I disagree with, is any assumption or request that they be made so, rather. The challenge of the things proved fun, interesting and engaging. That I could enjoy the chance to play along with some friends was even better.