Will the force ever awaken?

[An-narion]

I just finished the storyline on Ziost and well meh..

 

Ever since the launch of Hutt Cartel , the planets and story felt very meh but Ziost took it to a whole new level. Allow me to say to the team at Bio that I love swtor, I loved the kotor games and I love the stuff that you guys can make, but the "expansions" you guys have been launching after the original game is shocking. The budget cuts are just bleeding out and it is really really costing your game. I have to go from awesome intriguing planets and wide landscapes like Alderaan and and tython and then be forced into a tight corridor recycled artwork area like ziost.

 

Yavin 4 & Manaan are beautifully designed planets , the artwork is awesome and I really felt like I am in a galaxy far far away. However the sheer size of the "planets" are ridiculous. Playing with the new content makes me feel I'm busy in a flashpoint not a planet and it is hurting your game. I love the fact that I was always able to take a taxi and fly around a planet and see where each playable segment is located (Not that playable segments are good , as is bluntly shown in the playable islands in corusant that is patched against an animated skyscraper backdrop.) But it at least made the illusion enjoyable.

 

Thing is Bio, if you can not give us the standard of play from the original games and you are giving us less in terms of world , you are going the wrong way about it. Take some lessons from WoW and ESO, their games are getting better with each update that expands world dramatically and increases features. Make the world believable. Hoth and tatooine is fine with an invisible barrier that can later be removed to add more towns and more content, but to box us in , in little playable areas just to tell the story and fade out to black every time I take a taxi , really sucks for gameplay and your story.

 

Cmon Bio give us a reason to believe in this awesome game.

 

May the force be with the devs!

[dominaura]

Ziost was done very well, what are you talking about?

 

Cutscene improvements

New creatures

New story

Innovative quests

Not even charging you for a free planet

 

 

On top of that this comes on the heels of Rishi and Yavin 4, 2 new planets which introduced bipedal walkers and hours of story

 

Ziost is an inperial world so OF COURSE the architecture would be similar to Kaas.

 

Did you even think your wall of text through?

[menofhorror]

I liked it but I do agree that its painfully noticeable how reduced their budget is compared to the vanilla game.

You spend more time watching your character talk then actually choosing for yourself what your character says.

Yes I liked the design of Manaan and Yavin 4. Rishis design was also great.

The problem is that they are so underutilized. (especially Manaan) Like what the hell. They have this entire area and they do absolutely NOTHING with it. Same with Yavin 4. Like 4 quests and thats it.

Unfortunately that is one of the biggest problems with the game, even in vanilla: Missed potential all over.

[Ghisallo]

I actually like Ziost. I think they did a decent job of throwing into a cavernous urban environment populated by people tearing each other apart. So in so far as the "look" I thought it was fairly solid.

 

Could it have been a little larger? Yeah but we'll see how small it is after Monday.

[Ghisallo]

I liked it but I do agree that its painfully noticeable how reduced their budget is compared to the vanilla game.

You spend more time watching your character talk then actually choosing for yourself what your character says.

Yes I liked the design of Manaan and Yavin 4. Rishis design was also great.

The problem is that they are so underutilized. (especially Manaan) Like what the hell. They have this entire area and they do absolutely NOTHING with it. Same with Yavin 4. Like 4 quests and thats it.

Unfortunately that is one of the biggest problems with the game, even in vanilla: Missed potential all over.

 

Budgets are always reduced after launch. A Launch budget is based on the idea that you will get the "ooohhhh new shiny" multiple boxes (sometimes in the millions) bought etc. You don't bank on this after.

 

I think the biggest things, atm are this...

 

1. Look at PTS with all the mechanics and class issues they are working on. They completely changed the classes and now resources are being spent to fix the things such a massive change flubbed up. This appears to be taken up a lot of time atm.

 

Next something that is pure subjective opinion...

 

2. The content will always seem "small" when they have to also spend time on all the cut scenes. Those don't even have to be expensive cash wise (I don't pretend to know) BUT they do take time. When you only have have so many staff and limited time the more solo cut scenes you have the less time you have to make "playable" content.

 

Right now they seem to be trying to do both equally...have the solo cut scenes to keep the people who were not looking for an MMO happy and then pouring time into FPs and OPs for the people who were looking for an MMO. I used to think these two could be compatible... Now I don't know so much.

Edited May 2, 2015 by Ghisallo

[BrianDavion]

I liked it but I do agree that its painfully noticeable how reduced their budget is compared to the vanilla game.

You spend more time watching your character talk then actually choosing for yourself what your character says.

Yes I liked the design of Manaan and Yavin 4. Rishis design was also great.

The problem is that they are so underutilized. (especially Manaan) Like what the hell. They have this entire area and they do absolutely NOTHING with it. Same with Yavin 4. Like 4 quests and thats it.

Unfortunately that is one of the biggest problems with the game, even in vanilla: Missed potential all over.

 

 

yavin ahs more then 4 quests, it has 8 daily quests, 1 operation, 2 world bosses and the solo Revan.

 

Contrast this with Illum.

[Ghisallo]

yavin ahs more then 4 quests, it has 8 daily quests, 1 operation, 2 world bosses and the solo Revan.

 

Contrast this with Illum.

 

Oricon is much the same. Its why I am saying let's wait until Monday when the rest of Ziost gets dropped. In the e d we might be looking at another Illum, which is a step back, or another Yavin, which while people may pooh pooh it, was an improvement over Illum and Oricon.

[BrianDavion]

Oricon is much the same. Its why I am saying let's wait until Monday when the rest of Ziost gets dropped. In the e d we might be looking at another Illum, which is a step back, or another Yavin, which while people may pooh pooh it, was an improvement over Illum and Oricon.

 

thing is number of quests is also only half the equation. another one is how easy to do the quests are, layout etc.

[Ghisallo]

thing is number of quests is also only half the equation. another one is how easy to do the quests are, layout etc.

 

Oh I know but thus far, imo at least, the way BW at times uses layout to make only a few quests feel like a lot is hit or miss. Yavin worked for me... So did Illum. However Oricon's set up, for some reason, felt tedious to me. I mean its an "open" area but it still manages to funnel you on specific paths in a rather obvious and contrived fashion

 

Right now if there is a fair bit more Ziost makes sense to me...much of it is taken place in an Urban area (thus far) so being funneled makes sense so the contrivance is not a virtual slap in the face.