4.0 The dumbification of SWTOR.

[stockmks]

This. Solo players and casuals do not fuel games like these. Too bad devs are too dense to understand that

 

You must be new to mmo's, yeah reading the sticker this is what you think.. but since vanilla wow it came out that the vast majority who play mmo's are casuals.

 

MMO's are psychologically addictive and grindy as well as providing group content.. dont forget.

 

What was it, only 5% of players actually raid? Here its worse because you have to subscribe to do it, so its probably even smaller.

[Pirana]

How hard did you have to think about any of this? Within an hour on my first day, I understood what I needed to be doing, and there's no thought involved in it now. OMG, you realize what this means? It means that the game was dumbed down from the start, and if you were struggling with gearing toons before these changes, you're still not going to be able to do it...

 

You would be surprised at how many people still continue to use the wrong stat in their gear. We even had a Smuggler in our guild a couple of years ago that thought Aim was the best choice, until I had to show this person parses from two difference perspectives.

 

The game may have been dumbed-down from the start as you mentioned. We now step further into it.

 

Regarding your last statement, incorrect. The change to turn all Main stats into Mastery, all but eliminates any thought as to what you stack.

 

 

 

Edited October 9, 2015 by Pirana

[StreetPunk]

Only 2 phrases:

 

1. Movie hype

2. Update for casuals

[jamstraz]

Personally I think the server pop drop right now is due to the large amount of people who go to school. But that's just my opinion.

[AlrikFassbauer]

You would be surprised at how many people still continue to use the wrong stat in their gear. We even had a Smuggler in our guild a couple of years ago that thought Aim was the best choice, until I had to show this person parses from two difference perspectives.

 

Why Qysen has aim is still something I don't understand. Aim at what ? With his tech blade ? At especially squishy body parts ?

And please doin't tell me its history - I know that. It still doesn't make sense. They could have given him strength instead.

 

And why did they call it "aim" in the fiurst place what was not meant to be für Smugglers ? What has canning to do wiuth aiming a pistol at an enemy ?

Edited October 16, 2015 by AlrikFassbauer

[Stradlin]

Yeah by all accounts, they are actually stripping their own game down. Not sure if I've ever seen anything like this. It is like TOR had been caught in dungeons of Dreadfort, game layer after another keeps getting peeled off.

 

12xXP and it's KOTFE equivalent is the worst. Imagine how one dimensional, narrow, simple and dumb it made everyone's leveling process.

 

If you had asked an average subscriber lvling an alt pre-12xXP " what did you do in-game today?" you can bet your arse the answer would have been much more exciting than what you'd get today.

 

What makes me bitter and toxic and frustrated is the fact I really LOVE so many parts of this game(namely GSF, casual WZs) and as such, I hate to see the game going down. Technically, the moment to leave the ship was when marketing gets 10 mils to make an awesome cgi to sell an expansion with while live dev gets 0 mils to make 0 hours of new core MMo content to said expansion. That's one gigantic jetback meme moment right there. But damnit. I like GSF too much. *carries his cross*

Edited October 16, 2015 by Stradlin

[Razdek]

Does anyone agree with this? with all the rumors about it feels like they are dumbing the game down so that toddlers can even play it.

 

#1 Stats Crush

#2 Companions Auto Scaled, no gear

#3 Letting people buy 60's

#4 Skill Trees squished even further

#5 downscaling-upscaling

#6 Bolstering, why does gear even matter

 

The DUMBIFICATION OF SWTOR

 

You have mistaken 'dumbing down' with 'quality of life' improvements.

 

Having to gear companions wasn't hard or intellectually challenging, it was just annoying having to gear a total of 8 characters without them even looking how you wanted them too (someone like me who has maxed out character limit... This is a huge improvement).

 

All main stats did exactly the same thing for each class anyway. So making the mainstat mastery just provides more opportunity for a greater variety of people to use gear. This means less gear in FPs etc going to waste.

 

EVERY mmo does a tree prune before or during an expansion. Otherwise we have too much button bloat and not enough convenient places or binds to place them on. We already have this problem and I use a naga razor which allows for an easy 48 keybinds with normal, shift, ctrl and alt and i still have to use buttons like E Q R C T etc etc (including shift). Pruning unneccissry skills or cha ging skills etc is sometimes absolutely necissary.

 

This is in no way a 'dumbing down' and in all honesty if you thought it was actually hard in the first place that this is considered a dumbing down??? This is already and easy mmo. Its never been that hard that anything wiuld really he considered a dumbing doen.

[dashriprock]

You have mistaken 'dumbing down' with 'quality of life' improvements.

 

^^^^^^^^^

Exactly this.

 

 

None of the things the OP mentioned are difficult or challenging in anyway. They are just annoyances that shouldnt have been in the game to begin with. What was the point in having 4 different NAMED stats that do the exact same thing??

 

Level sync will actually make the game content slightly MORE difficult as well. Objectively the game is getting harder not easier.

[Garrek]

I actually like the fact that we won't be able to give equipment to our companions anymore. Mainly cause it can be so darn expensive doing so. It didn't work for Dragon Age 2 I admit that but for an mmo we want to focus on our main toons. That's how I feel about it.

[DarkJediMage]

mostly time savers. nowadays, technology has given us so many options to do that no one has time. i can see it in my nephews. they can't play swtor. not enough they say. they play fast going game like dota.

 

up scaling/down-scaling or lvl syncing is not a time saver or dumb downer. it is a half-azz attempt to keep you grinding to make you stay longer due a lack of content or bioware's needed sub money, the upside side is you help lowbies and supposedly you get a scaled up reward. down side is you can't solo old low lvl content to farm or have a rp action event showing off power or travel without aggroing the mobs to a higher lvl missions, can't do champion npc achievements that no one wants to group up for, same for some datacrons in heroic areas. bioware supposedly dumbed down these areas. but that remains to be seen. you will always be constantly fighting mobs at every lvl even though you maxed out. and there is no off switch. so, you waste time and energy without any fun at the low lvl areas. is it really worth it? imo - hell no.

Edited October 21, 2015 by DarkJediMage

[Ioxiwarpie]

Does anyone agree with this? with all the rumors about it feels like they are dumbing the game down so that toddlers can even play it.

 

#1 Stats Crush

#2 Companions Auto Scaled, no gear

#3 Letting people buy 60's

#4 Skill Trees squished even further

#5 downscaling-upscaling

#6 Bolstering, why does gear even matter

 

The DUMBIFICATION OF SWTOR

 

so quit if you think its dumb

[Freeyayo]

Does anyone agree with this? with all the rumors about it feels like they are dumbing the game down so that toddlers can even play it.

 

#1 Stats Crush

#2 Companions Auto Scaled, no gear

#3 Letting people buy 60's

#4 Skill Trees squished even further

#5 downscaling-upscaling

#6 Bolstering, why does gear even matter

 

The DUMBIFICATION OF SWTOR

 

I don't agree with your whole point, but I do agree on one thing.

 

#1 Kind of odd, but who cares? It doesn't change anything.

#2 Another one that doesn't matter. Companion usefulness was trivial to begin with. Why should I have to worry about their gear? Their only purpose is to make things easier for you.

#3 I've leveled all but sage and vanguard. What's wrong with skipping the boring grind?

#4 I don't know what you're referring to. They look about the same. Even more has been added actually. Though I do miss the customization of the old days. So I agree with you on this.

#5 Honestly just not sure what you mean. Not gonna argue.

#6 Yea bolster is stupid, but this isn't new.

 

These changes are normal in MMOs. WoW did the same thing. The casual player is their best customer. Dumbification happened with the implementation of pvp gear with expertise and bolster in warzones. This makes skill less important. WoW is getting rid of pvp gear altogether next xpac and I can't wait. I hope swtor does the same in the future.

[Sunyavadin]

Some games have New Game plus modes.

4.0 is NGE plus.

[Momerath]

4.0 is working as intended.

 

I'm an early subscriber/founder. I played for a year or so, casually. I got 3 characters to 55 through the hutt cartel expansion and started levelling a couple other classes into their thirties and then unsubbed. Hearing of the release of 4.0 and the 12xp gain which allowed story access without the constant grind of stuff i'd rather not do -again-, i resubbed in late August.

 

Let's face it. I couldn't care less about endgame unless its more content. I don't need Revanite gear by constantly grinding ops. The fun of PvP is lost on me. I levelled a char into their 30's on PvP alone and in the beginning it was fun, as any novelty is, but it quickly wore on me. Owning leader boards just wasn't the thrill for me that it was for some people. This was before Ranked PvP so maybe its a lot different now? The point in this is, and i'm going to go out on a limb here: I'm betting there's multiple times more people like me that play this game than there are diehard completionists and truly competitive gamers. I'm not knocking anybody. Just stating a fact - as i see it.

 

So, i'm pumped to remake or revisit those story lines i never finished and engage new content. And I don't see where ANYTHING has been taken away from the longtime vets either. Its not a case of "Oh, i had to spend all this -time and effort- to get all the stuff i have- and now these newbs can just -buy- it" , because they can't. I don't miss any of the time i spent on my previous characters and new subscribers -will- go back and make new characters to see much of the content of the game and they will learn the game through those characters, not the 60's they start off with.

 

Besides a noob throwing a wrench in the works of an ops pug, i'm not sure what there is to complain about...at all. Its a bold move that will draw a lot of old players back, new players in, with no expense to anybody. It's possible to enjoy a steak while knowing somebody else isn't starving, but enjoying a steak, too.

[VitalityPrime]

Does anyone agree with this? with all the rumors about it feels like they are dumbing the game down so that toddlers can even play it.

 

#1 Stats Crush

#2 Companions Auto Scaled, no gear

#3 Letting people buy 60's

#4 Skill Trees squished even further

#5 downscaling-upscaling

#6 Bolstering, why does gear even matter

 

The DUMBIFICATION OF SWTOR

 

Making things more efficient is not "dumbing down".

 

You not understanding that is "dumb".