Returned for 12x. Why do people continue to play this game?

[Sarfux]

1. Star Wars
   
2. Star Wars without those pesky Skywalkers
   
3. "Choose your own dialogue", while limited is still there.
   
4. Eight class stories, gives me eight games in one. Twenty four for each alignment.
   
5. I can play most of the game without needing others, but I can still interact with others (gen chat for example), and do group oriented stuff if I want to.
   
6. Star Wars.
   
7. Star Wars and I don't have to play a Jedi if I don't want to. I can be a Force-blind character and still have my day in the sun.
   
8. Lore
   
9. Achievements
   
10. Companions with their own stories.
    
11. Strongholds
    
12. Just how intertwined the class stories really are.
    
13. Did I mention Star Wars?
    
14. My Jedi don't have to wear those blasted robes that no one else wears and screams "HI! JEDI HERE! COME AND KILL ME, SITH AND IMPERIALS!"
    
15. The moral questions as to just how "good" or "evil" are the Jedi and Sith.
    

 

By the way, I am a Pokemon player, so the whole "rat tail side quest" thing is pretty normal to me. Pokemon has us running in the grass grinding EXP out of those rats.

 

Nailed it!

[jorill]

Well then. Tell my why or did you just leave a comment like to provoke?

 

Im guessing because the 300 million number was made up by a former employee and people bought it hook,line, and sinker.

[Reno_Tarshil]

Because large breasts.

[Reno_Tarshil]

Doing the same dailies and OPs day in and day out is 'more than enough content'?

 

Have you played other MMOs?

 

Have you even played this game? Cause there's more to this game than Dailies and OPs and no where did he imply that was all he did.

[Deewe]

Because large breasts.

I lol'd

[Cidanel]

Have you even played this game? Cause there's more to this game than Dailies and OPs and no where did he imply that was all he did.

 

I have played this game for two years, and do virtually nothing but PvP anymore because that is the only dynamic content in the game. Everything else I have done 100 times already.

[Reno_Tarshil]

I have played this game for two years, and do virtually nothing but PvP anymore because that is the only dynamic content in the game. Everything else I have done 100 times already.

 

But that's just you, not everyone.

[Cidanel]

But that's just you, not everyone.

 

Absolutely. What I enjoy and what other people enjoy aren't the same thing.

 

BW's current direction pushes people like myself out of the game, but I am sure it attracts others.

[TUXs]

I'll try to keep this from sounding like a rant. I'm genuinely curious what is keeping people engaged. Maybe I'm missing something, or maybe SWTOR really just isn't for me.

 

I originally played at launch with early access. After burning out completely by the time EC was released (1.2?) I haven't played since. The biggest issue was that there really wasn't enough content to keep a main busy, and I couldn't put myself through all of the pointless rat-tail quests needed to level an alt. I did occasionally check back on the game though. When I saw 12x I figured it would be nice to check out some other classes and see how the game is now. After levelling 3 alts up in a panic since the 12x is time limited, I feel like I'm burnt out on that already. I'm now getting through some of the content available for 55s and it doesn't really seem like its a whole lot different than launch. And at 60 it seems like its going to be even worse because its going back to even less level appropriate content plus farming old outlevelled stuff.

 

So what keeps people playing? I personally like progression but there is very little in SWTOR. I would describe it more as progressive farming. It doesn't take long to clear everything at level cap and from there you may see increases in difficultly and higher stats on the gear, but there is essentially nothing new added. Is farming enjoyable to the playerbase? It seems like that's pretty much the bulk of the playing time.

 

I go into more things I find disappointing in the spoiler below. (sorry for the text wall, tried to break it up)

 

 

 

There are several things in the game that for the most part either seem incomplete or incredibly poorly implemented.

 

Cartel Market in general:

I have no problem paying for a sub if I like the game. I'd even be willing to spend additional money on a hybrid model if the stuff was worth buying. But I absolutely hate the implementation of the CM here. The stuff available for direct purchase mostly looks "meh" at best. The rest of the items are only available from the gamble boxes. So I can buy the same items off the GTN from others that open the boxes. But now instead of being able to buy the appearance I want (i only want pay for appearance, not pay to win) I have to farm credits to buy the stuff? I farm real dollars every day at work. Let me spend that money on game appearance - accept my money.... please? But no, rather than accepting a reasonable amount (like $5-10, not $20+) for an appearance gear set my options are gamble or farm credits, or optionally convert CC to credits still leaving it somewhat to chance and still likely overpriced. The whole system just seems backwards and counter productive unless their target audience is limited to "Star Wars fans that have a gambling addiction". I guess those would be the most profitable.

 

CM Price Fixing:

Another irritation with the CM is that they set the prices and probabilities for everything, so they have total control over the value of the items. Then, once there is sufficient demand for a rare item they can make it available directly at a ridiculous price? Try doing that in real life when you have a monopoly and see how legal it is.

 

CM Quality:

The fact that any of the items that are paid for directly have clipping issues is absurd. I could understand if a level~ 23 green item, that drops occasionally on low level worlds, that nobody ever uses for very long, has a clipping issue. But items developed specifically to be paid for with real money? Are they accepting cash returns for these? Would any company get away with such blatant misadvertising in real life?

 

Legacy:

This really just seems like it was never finished or they had no idea what they wanted to do with it. It seems more like a credit sink since most of the stuff really doesn't add a lot of incentive to level alts. Even if the character perks were legacy wide the benefits seem marginal compared to the amount of garbage quests still required to level. Part of the problem that I have with this system is that even if 12x was implemented full time, it only promotes more mindless farming. Credits, gear, companion gear, companion affection, more credits, more credits, more credits. Outside of experiencing the class story it becomes incredibly tedious. It would also help if there were some logical legacy unlocks like maps, speeders, and datacrons. I know there is a divide on these issues, but it isn't a time sink if the majority of people simply refuse to level alts in the first place or unlock this stuff because its not worth the frustration and tedium.

 

Moddable gear:

I really thought this was to allow better appearance customization when they originally released it. But after seeing it in place for so long that doesn't seem to be the intention any more. They cling to it as a credit sink, but also go further by adding horrific itemization (alacrity on tanks? seriously?) forcing the credit sink even more. I could understand it if players found a way to get another 5% out of the gear by varying some mods for different amounts of crit, surge, power; but to put the complete wrong stats on is just insulting.

 

Travel:

I can go directly to Oricon and directly back. Have I missed these transports on all the levelling planets? Why must I endure the same spaceports, airlocks, and space stations time after time when this technology exists? Overall it looks like better options are getting implemented for future stuff, but its still really incomplete. I haven't played any other game that requires so much time spent loading and transitioning in dead space to get from one functional area to the next.

 

Questing:

This complaint is more to do with the flow and excitement rather than the actual travel time. But why on Oricon during the story missions do I need to physically travel back to the outpost? I could see that being the case at launch (they likely didn't know better then and couldn't change it all), but why can't I use my holocommunicator more. Its such a dry method of story presentation to take me completely away from the action to have a chat before sending me all the way back in again.

 

 

 

 

 

Where is the fun? I'm having a really difficult time feeling like I enjoy the game. It really feels like I'm being harvested for my money and the game experience isn't even an afterthought. They're just giving the absolute bare minimum to keep players around so they can milk money from wallets. I don't want things handed to me, I want progressive challenging content that keeps me engaged. Farming is not engaging.

 

TL;DR: seems like the game has no content and isn't particularly compelling otherwise. Why do people play this space farm simulator?

 

EDIT: It's blunt, but my intention was to keep it short enough to be readable. While it's not a complete impression, this describes my impression and some concerns as a returning playing. I'm not looking to be convinced to stay. I want to know what the players that have been here for a long time like about the game so I can check that stuff out and get the complete experience before deciding. I don't feel like BW does a very good job of this, and they seem to typically oversell the things they do talk about which leads to more frustration.

LOL!

 

I've been hoping you'd show up!!! I play this game still just to irk you!!!! I don't even like it, I just like that me playing it upsets you so much.

[Thoronmir]

LOL!

 

I've been hoping you'd show up!!! I play this game still just to irk you!!!! I don't even like it, I just like that me playing it upsets you so much.

Okay ... that made me chortle.

 

I still play because playing something fun is fun for me. That's about as detailed a response as this thread warrants.

[Kourage]

I often ask myself, why do people run? Why do people play Candy Crush?

[Eldrenath]

Weird...

 

It's almost as if, and I know this sounds crazy so I'm going to ask you all to bear with me for just a moment, but it's almost as if...

 

...video games are a subjective form of entertainment that cannot and will not be appealing to everyone on Earth.

 

Again, let me be clear: I fully admit and accept that that statement is ludicrous on its face. Up until SWTOR was released and continuing unabated since it's release, 100% of video games (excepting, of course, SWTOR) have been universally loved by all players of all types from all walks of life. That's what drives me nuts. Why would BioWare break such a perfect cycle? There has never been a game that didn't appeal to literally every single human on the planet Earth. We all know this to be true. Why, then, would they decide to make this game? Why would they deliberately and with utter disregard for everything that has come before it, release a game knowing full well that some people would not like it? I mean, sure, they probably were proud of it. And sure, some players really like it. I do, and a lot of my friends do. But here's the kicker: not ALL of my friends do.

 

I know!! It's completely bananas. As it turns out, some of my friends have different tastes and preferences than I do. I don't know which upsets me more, the fact that some people I know and like don't like something that I like, or the fact that BioWare released this game and continues to develop it despite the 100% objectively true fact that some people have played this game and found that they don't enjoy it. Given that 100% of games up until and after SWTOR have achieved 100% customer satisfaction it simply boggles the mind the BioWare would continue developing this complete disaster that has pleased less than 100% of video gamers. Especially considering how easy video gamers are to please!

 

It's a sad time for video games.

Edited November 21, 2014 by Eldrenath

[DarkSaberMaster]

I think you have it correct. This game isn't for you. I think it is a fun game and a good way to pass the time when I'm not reminiscing with birds that can't fly.

[Malorey]

There's tons of games I'm not really that into....I just don't play them.....no big whoop

[Aussircaex]

<shocking snip>

 

Absolutely disgusting

Edited November 21, 2014 by Aussircaex

[JattaGin]

I'll try to keep this from sounding like a rant. I'm genuinely curious what is keeping people engaged. Maybe I'm missing something, or maybe SWTOR really just isn't for me.

 

/thread after first paragraph of OP.

 

I'm surprised we're on page 7.

[SithKoriandr]

I'm not looking to be convinced. I'm legitimately wondering what it is people are doing these days because at launch it was very limited. I enjoy the mechanics of the game but it just seems like a shame if there isn't enough content to make it worth playing. I'm getting back into it but admittedly I am not aware of all the content currently available.

 

Why are you responding so defensively? Are you afraid to admit all you do is farm and really don't enjoy it and don't want to have to admit that to yourself? Or are there specific things that you do enjoy that maybe I'm not aware of since I'm a returning player from years ago?

 

To be clear, yes, I paid money for a game just so I could rant about it rather than try to get the most out of the experience. /sarcasm

 

A fun guild helps. Whether it be for RP, just running team content with friends/guildies, chat room with avatars, chat room with combat.

 

People play the same FPS over and over, so I always find it a weird when people think dailies are some how different. If you enjoy the game, you will play it.

[LyraineAlei]

/thread after first paragraph of OP.

 

I'm surprised we're on page 7.

 

To answer the question in the title, "Why do people continue to play this game?"

 

Most people are just saying why they play this one.

[Brewski]

Because...

 

Step 1: Play SWTOR

Step 2: ....

Step 3: Profit!

[Heezdedjim]

For me, 12x is the entire reason I came back, and I've played the game more in the past six weeks than I did in the year and a half before it.

[Arkerus]

Weird...

 

It's almost as if, and I know this sounds crazy so I'm going to ask you all to bear with me for just a moment, but it's almost as if...

 

...video games are a subjective form of entertainment that cannot and will not be appealing to everyone on Earth.

 

Again, let me be clear: I fully admit and accept that that statement is ludicrous on its face. Up until SWTOR was released and continuing unabated since it's release, 100% of video games (excepting, of course, SWTOR) have been universally loved by all players of all types from all walks of life. That's what drives me nuts. Why would BioWare break such a perfect cycle? There has never been a game that didn't appeal to literally every single human on the planet Earth. We all know this to be true. Why, then, would they decide to make this game? Why would they deliberately and with utter disregard for everything that has come before it, release a game knowing full well that some people would not like it? I mean, sure, they probably were proud of it. And sure, some players really like it. I do, and a lot of my friends do. But here's the kicker: not ALL of my friends do.

 

I know!! It's completely bananas. As it turns out, some of my friends have different tastes and preferences than I do. I don't know which upsets me more, the fact that some people I know and like don't like something that I like, or the fact that BioWare released this game and continues to develop it despite the 100% objectively true fact that some people have played this game and found that they don't enjoy it. Given that 100% of games up until and after SWTOR have achieved 100% customer satisfaction it simply boggles the mind the BioWare would continue developing this complete disaster that has pleased less than 100% of video gamers. Especially considering how easy video gamers are to please!

 

It's a sad time for video games.

 

HA! I like the cut of your jib.

[themasterofevil]

I'll try to keep this from sounding like a rant. I'm genuinely curious what is keeping people engaged. Maybe I'm missing something, or maybe SWTOR really just isn't for me.

 

I originally played at launch with early access. After burning out completely by the time EC was released (1.2?) I haven't played since. The biggest issue was that there really wasn't enough content to keep a main busy, and I couldn't put myself through all of the pointless rat-tail quests needed to level an alt. I did occasionally check back on the game though. When I saw 12x I figured it would be nice to check out some other classes and see how the game is now. After levelling 3 alts up in a panic since the 12x is time limited, I feel like I'm burnt out on that already. I'm now getting through some of the content available for 55s and it doesn't really seem like its a whole lot different than launch. And at 60 it seems like its going to be even worse because its going back to even less level appropriate content plus farming old outlevelled stuff.

 

So what keeps people playing? I personally like progression but there is very little in SWTOR. I would describe it more as progressive farming. It doesn't take long to clear everything at level cap and from there you may see increases in difficultly and higher stats on the gear, but there is essentially nothing new added. Is farming enjoyable to the playerbase? It seems like that's pretty much the bulk of the playing time.

 

I go into more things I find disappointing in the spoiler below. (sorry for the text wall, tried to break it up)

 

 

 

There are several things in the game that for the most part either seem incomplete or incredibly poorly implemented.

 

Cartel Market in general:

I have no problem paying for a sub if I like the game. I'd even be willing to spend additional money on a hybrid model if the stuff was worth buying. But I absolutely hate the implementation of the CM here. The stuff available for direct purchase mostly looks "meh" at best. The rest of the items are only available from the gamble boxes. So I can buy the same items off the GTN from others that open the boxes. But now instead of being able to buy the appearance I want (i only want pay for appearance, not pay to win) I have to farm credits to buy the stuff? I farm real dollars every day at work. Let me spend that money on game appearance - accept my money.... please? But no, rather than accepting a reasonable amount (like $5-10, not $20+) for an appearance gear set my options are gamble or farm credits, or optionally convert CC to credits still leaving it somewhat to chance and still likely overpriced. The whole system just seems backwards and counter productive unless their target audience is limited to "Star Wars fans that have a gambling addiction". I guess those would be the most profitable.

 

CM Price Fixing:

Another irritation with the CM is that they set the prices and probabilities for everything, so they have total control over the value of the items. Then, once there is sufficient demand for a rare item they can make it available directly at a ridiculous price? Try doing that in real life when you have a monopoly and see how legal it is.

 

CM Quality:

The fact that any of the items that are paid for directly have clipping issues is absurd. I could understand if a level~ 23 green item, that drops occasionally on low level worlds, that nobody ever uses for very long, has a clipping issue. But items developed specifically to be paid for with real money? Are they accepting cash returns for these? Would any company get away with such blatant misadvertising in real life?

 

Legacy:

This really just seems like it was never finished or they had no idea what they wanted to do with it. It seems more like a credit sink since most of the stuff really doesn't add a lot of incentive to level alts. Even if the character perks were legacy wide the benefits seem marginal compared to the amount of garbage quests still required to level. Part of the problem that I have with this system is that even if 12x was implemented full time, it only promotes more mindless farming. Credits, gear, companion gear, companion affection, more credits, more credits, more credits. Outside of experiencing the class story it becomes incredibly tedious. It would also help if there were some logical legacy unlocks like maps, speeders, and datacrons. I know there is a divide on these issues, but it isn't a time sink if the majority of people simply refuse to level alts in the first place or unlock this stuff because its not worth the frustration and tedium.

 

Moddable gear:

I really thought this was to allow better appearance customization when they originally released it. But after seeing it in place for so long that doesn't seem to be the intention any more. They cling to it as a credit sink, but also go further by adding horrific itemization (alacrity on tanks? seriously?) forcing the credit sink even more. I could understand it if players found a way to get another 5% out of the gear by varying some mods for different amounts of crit, surge, power; but to put the complete wrong stats on is just insulting.

 

Travel:

I can go directly to Oricon and directly back. Have I missed these transports on all the levelling planets? Why must I endure the same spaceports, airlocks, and space stations time after time when this technology exists? Overall it looks like better options are getting implemented for future stuff, but its still really incomplete. I haven't played any other game that requires so much time spent loading and transitioning in dead space to get from one functional area to the next.

 

Questing:

This complaint is more to do with the flow and excitement rather than the actual travel time. But why on Oricon during the story missions do I need to physically travel back to the outpost? I could see that being the case at launch (they likely didn't know better then and couldn't change it all), but why can't I use my holocommunicator more. Its such a dry method of story presentation to take me completely away from the action to have a chat before sending me all the way back in again.

 

 

 

 

 

Where is the fun? I'm having a really difficult time feeling like I enjoy the game. It really feels like I'm being harvested for my money and the game experience isn't even an afterthought. They're just giving the absolute bare minimum to keep players around so they can milk money from wallets. I don't want things handed to me, I want progressive challenging content that keeps me engaged. Farming is not engaging.

 

TL;DR: seems like the game has no content and isn't particularly compelling otherwise. Why do people play this space farm simulator?

 

EDIT: It's blunt, but my intention was to keep it short enough to be readable. While it's not a complete impression, this describes my impression and some concerns as a returning playing. I'm not looking to be convinced to stay. I want to know what the players that have been here for a long time like about the game so I can check that stuff out and get the complete experience before deciding. I don't feel like BW does a very good job of this, and they seem to typically oversell the things they do talk about which leads to more frustration.

 

Idk, but for me, i enjoy the PVP in this game. I love just smashing peoples faces to a pulp and the satisfying glory of a victory.

The Ops are ok, but i still love this game. But, i have all the classes in the game, and all of them are played in pvp, but i find that OPs arent for me. Although, 1 of my toons is a geared healer for OPs, but otherwise, most of my toons play pvp, because its easy and fun. It also lets you test out your new abilities to their full extent without having to wait for endgame or go mill around until you find some mob.

 

But on what you said about the Cartel Market prices... This isnt real life. And people who get rare items are entitled to sell it at what ever price they deem appropriate. I will agree though, that some items are stupidly over priced. Also, the cartel market requires real money, because its a bunch of vanity items and some items are for limited time during certain times of the year. Examples: Gold Scalene Armor, Life Day event items and so on. Plus, by paying for that stuff, you're helping the company produce new things. Although, i wish BioWare would fix the armor looks. They're all ugly. But, the new SOR Revanite armor doesnt look too bad. Also, i would advise not comparing a video game to real life. Its like everything from the cartel market is DLC. You buy it with real money, and you can keep it to yourself, or you can sell it for how much you want for it on the GTN. But i know that real DLC can't be sold for in game money, but its a close comparison. And with you saying all this stuff is a credit sink, yea it is, its so people have something to build towards, so that when they finally get it, they feel happy. And then, if they want yet another thing, all they gotta do is get some more credits.

 

Now for moddable gearing, i understand that some players don't want to spend extra money to min/max their gear, but alot of players do, so they spend money. Plus, its not very hard to make up to 1 mil within 4 hours at 55. And i assume at level 60, there will be even more dailies to run. As well, if you run TFB and SNV, together thats about 600k from just 2 operations. If you have a good group, just run those, hop on another toon, run em again, and there you go, made almost 1.2 mil credits.

 

Travel... I agree that sometimes the loading screens take a long time, but look at hoth for example... this planet is pretty big. Plus, you gotta add how long it takes to render every little NPC, other player, the textures for everything and all that.

 

For questing, im pretty sure that having to go back and forth helps the player feel important or something O.o, as well as it lengthens the storyline instead of making it a super fast paced thing.

 

Im sorry you don't like the game, but alot of other people do. And i see so many people in gen chat talking about how dead the game is or they complain about every feature they dont have access to. No offense here...

Ill just say what i tell everybody else, if you dont like it, you can always go back and play WoW, or Wildstar or something else. You know, i heard WoW was dropping a new xpac soon.

[Oyranos]

Because the game have potential and I want to believe that EA will invest more money into it, to fix it up and upgrade it. So I believe in its potential mostly... Also hire more people, because they made huge layoffs and now the current team is hard to keep up everything we request and to fix it/revamp it

 

In the other hand, in about 6 months time, swtor gained a half million more fans in facebook page and that tells me, the game starts to pick up customers. For more than a year swtor was 1.8-2m fans frozen with that number, but now its 2.5... I wish bioware to look into that and invest more, fix things and update the content and the planets we got, in a more regular bases.

 

so thats my hope, that since the game start picking up, swtor will have lots of things and surprises to offer us.

Edited November 21, 2014 by Oyranos

[themasterofevil]

Because the game have potential and I want to believe that EA will invest more money into it, to fix it up and upgrade it. So I believe in its potential mostly... Also hire more people, because they made huge layoffs and now the current team is hard to keep up everything we request and to fix it/revamp it

 

In the other hand, in about 6 months time, swtor gained a half million more fans in facebook page and that tells me, the game starts to pick up customers. For more than a year swtor was 1.8-2m fans frozen with that number, but now its 2.5... I wish bioware to look into that and invest more, fix things and update the content and the planets we got, in a more regular bases.

 

so thats my hope, that since the game start picking up, swtor will have lots of things and surprises to offer us.

 

I agree, but its a long process to edit game code or add new planets and stuff. Thats why they only add new things about every year. It just takes a long time to add new stuff.

[TX_Angel]

I'll try to keep this from sounding like a rant. I'm genuinely curious what is keeping people engaged. Maybe I'm missing something, or maybe SWTOR really just isn't for me.

 

Lightsabers...

 

The Force...

 

Class stories...

 

That is your answer... beyond that, it is a pretty average game, nothing special without those... The class stories are generally great, until you finish them, the end game is generic and simple grind...

 

And then... you know, lightsabers... perhaps the coolest weapons ever invented...