My TL;DR take on what would be good for the future of SWTOR.

[EnkiduNineEight]

This will be a tl;dr for many of you. I'm just warning you now

TL;DR version -- Make the 'Story' portion of this game essentially a 'Tutorial' for the MMO portion which acts as a 'New Game +' experience. BioWares classic storytelling is the 'Hook' that gets players to try the game, they get to maybe level 35 through story and during that period all 'tough' activities like outfitting companions appropriately, obtaining equipment, etc, are all made significantly easier and part of just doing the storyline. Once you reach the end of BioWare's story you can continue on into the MMO portion of the game where everything becomes YOUR story.

 

A Preamble: Please be aware that expressing a negative opinion about an aspect of a game does not mean you hate the game. For many, expressing their negative opinions about a current patch is because they _love_ the game and they believe, for whatever reason, things with the new patch might hurt their game, its longevity, for them or for others. They express their opinions because they hope someone sees them and may do something about it. You can say its futile and things are going to stay the way they are but then you have to wonder about the four years of history of people asking for things to be changed and seeing them change over time. Obviously, expressing your opinion may help affect the shape of the future game.

 

There are a lot of things they did with this latest expansion I don't think are terrible. There were a lot of little QoL improvements that were long requested and asked for by the populace that were great changes/additions. Being able to easily fill in names of name recipients for in game mail. Changes to the interface for collections, etc. There are some other ideas that have some merit behind them that I think could be tweaked to make them even better.

 

Companions, for instance, have now been changed to be able to do any of the trinity of roles. I like this addition as there were times I developed a favourite companion but I had to put them away and use another companion for a specific quest not only because the quest demanded it, but because I may have needed a specific role that my favoured companion couldn't perform. So I see this as a potential plus. I 'mourn' though the loss of diversity that we once had. As long as a companion is wielding the same sort of weapon, their actions are the same as any other companion. I've made a suggestion on the suggestions forum where I think this could have been implemented better. EG - Each companion _retains_ their original skill set. This is what they are best at. But then each companion also has secondary skill sets, implemented exactly as they are now.

 

EG - Qyzen, designed as a Tank companion for a cloth wearing Jedi Sage, excels as a tank, this is his natural role. He uses the normal Qyzen skillset when set as a 'Tank'. He can also be changed to Healer or DPS, and when he is, this role would be represented by the skill group provided to any melee focused character using the same weapon type. So you could switch his role, but in his original role he would work the best.

 

I likely think the game would be better served by still requiring companions to be geared, just implementing a system that uses the current cosmetic gearing and augments it using slots they removed (Implants, Earpieces, etc.. room for equipment slots) The current system, IMO, grants everyone a companion at the highest level of efficiency (for the most part) from login, and I do believe achievements should be earned in a game to make them meaningful.

 

My point with those above paragraphs is to indicate I am NOT against changes, I think some are good, some are bad, some have long term negative effects though may have a short term positive effect, etc. The point is, you can like things and dislike other things and generally you're going to discuss more the things you would rather want to change.

 

So here' is the meat of the thing....

 

BioWare is making a mistake IMO. I believe their mistake is on 'Focusing on Story' for what is billed as a multiplayer game. I like story. Story is great. But to change the product as drastically as they have is going to have long term negative implications for them. Turing the game into a single player experience and one whose difficulty curve is so shallow (as it is now) means that anyone can login and play and be done in less than a few days of play. if the journey to the end is so easy as it has become, there is no reason to make this journey repeatedly, let alone pay a monthly fee to do so. I believe they are going to see that the lack of 'multiplayer' aspects, combined with the utter simplicity of the single player aspects, is going to shorten their customer retention significantly. Once the market for games is exhausted, its largely not going to be pulling from a large potential pool of new players and so it will wither and die.

 

I don't want that, because I like the game and want to continue playing it into the conceivable future.

 

A shortcoming as well of 'focusing on BioWare's Story' means that every character is always presemued to have had the same essential story. This diminishes attachment to your character for roleplayers because having everyone run around in the same environment doing the same things, removes uniqueness. By making that aspect of the game a tutorial/BioWare story focused portion of the game, players with experience can 'skip' that portion entirely and start at level 35 with a set of money/equipment etc that lets them presume they are a 'Brand New' non story line Bounty Hunter, Jedi Knight, etc and lets them start their story fresh in the 'New Game +' (Or they can run through the tutorial and start maybe at a better position for cash/equipment if they want.. both should be options)

 

Now, Multiplayer aspects, keeping players engaged, are what the game needs in order to provide long term revenue and playability for the game for the MMO fans. Not focus on an even more restricted story with fewer storylines and a predetermined outcome. I am NOT going to suggest what the game needs is more Operations and Flashpoints (though these are always good) nor am I going to suggest the game needs more difficulty (though I believe it does), that its accessibility and ease of play on release did have some room for improvement, but somewhere between 1.0 and 4.0 there was a happy balance.

 

No, My solution is a bit more radical.

 

The leveling Experience tied to 'Story' shouldn't raise you to the maximum level in game. Level is completely unnecessary to enjoy the story, even all the KotFE aspects.. More often than not, the 'casual' players spoke out that they wanted to be able to experience the story without interruptions. By focusing on the 'story' being tied to 'level' as well this required changes to the structure of the game so that players were 'spoon fed' experience points just so they could be level appropriate to do their stories.

 

IMO - It may be best to instead look at the class storylines etc, and make them complete-able as a series where the difficulty ramps up as you go along, and see them essentially and inherently as the set of missions you perform to 'start' your players story in the saga. A very long tutorial essentially to the rest of the game. I'm not going to specify any specific target level, but for ease of explanation, lets just say that by doing all the class missions through KotFE, you would end up as a 'level 35' Character. You do not need to have a complete set off class skills, you do not need to have all the Utilities, etc. You have some of them, and the mechanics behind the game are made a point of these 'story' missions so that by the time you finish a story line (or several) you will have been taught all the basic and important parts of the none-too-difficult mechanics of the SWTOR game experience. If you really enjoy the story and want to take your character further, that's when you join the MMO part of the game, and from there you can learn even more cool abilities and 'iconic' actions etc.

 

I would recommend that each characters story be updated and modified a bit by including a series of 'optional' missions that serve to introduce the player into the concepts of crafting equipment, etc. Thus a brand new player can choose to do these as part of their storyline, and thus be trained about what they would need to do once they reach the 'New Game+' experience which is the MMO portion of the game (discussing later) and in the process be introduced to how to make their own gear, or obtain it from others crafting as well, to ensure they arewell equipped for their adventures. Make the 'reawards' from these optional side treks in the main story the ability to have equipment that's better than the stuff you get as rewards fro the story itself. This introduces the 'casual' player more gently into the MMO experience, where their power and facility can be increased by expending a little effort. but their story game is not at all affected.

 

By focusing the game differently, you can also 'spoon-feed' the new players all the equipment they would need to keep up with the game as they progress through these missions and know that you are _not_ overpowering them or making it 'too easy' for veterans by leveling the MMO portions of the game to these new players, especially considering many of these Casuals never really engage in the MMO experience. This means your MMO portion of the game can remain challenging with a more difficult progression curve, but your 'story' game still remains easy and accessible and potentially 'hooks' people into the MMO experience.

 

Class missions etc can return an equipment box that gives them everything they need to move forward and have the stats/etc so that they can complete their 'Storyline' missions. Companions would at each predetermined break point be given as part of a storyline reward a set of level appropriate equipment so the 'Casual' player doesn't need to worry about equipping their comp, their companion gets equipped automatically. The 'early' Tutorial/Story Game companion equipment could be 'overpowered' in that it provides them excess stats so that they can perform all three roles in the trinity very well, but as a player progresses intot he New Game + experience they find they need to start having more companion equipment and tailor each companion to a specific job if they want themto be optiomal, though they could still be serviceable in an 'off role'.

 

This means you can retain the mechanic for the 'New Game +' experience and players eventally become responsible for keeping their companions geared into the future. They were 'taught' how it was important to do this in the Story Line 'Tutorials' but if they want to go outside of that experience, they have to start taking care of themselves.

 

So, players who are 'casual' and want the traditional BioWare experience can log in and do _just_ the story the BioWare has written for them. You can extend these story missions out into the future with your new 'scaling' system so that even players who play the 'New Game +' MMO version of this game, can go back and play their continuing storylines if they want.

 

These stories then act as a small/discrete part of the much larger game. They can be completed relatively quickly, they could be gated behind a 'Initial Purchase Cost' (Like ESO, you buy the basic game and you get all of that 'out of box' but if you stick around and spend money monthly a whole new game opens up to you (New Game +)

 

Thus, your casual market is satisfied, they can get into the game and they can play it with 'casual' ease. By reducing the level gains of the story line so that its 'Mid level' you entice them for further play in the New Game + experience but its not required.

 

From the point you end your story though, you are ending 'BioWare's Story' and the 'New Game +' needs to be about creating your _own_ story, which is what many fans of star wars and MMO's want as well.

 

Your casual player can continue to play the initial game, for free, based on an initial purchase price. They can go through the story lines as often as they want. They'll cap out at Level 35ish and progress no further. They essentially play the 'Tutorial' though its a 10+ hour tutorial.

 

After you reach 35 and finish your 'chapters' you can choose to move forward with a character. (Players who have already done this with at leastone character can forever after skip the 'story tutorial'portion and begin their characters at level 35. This is the game gated by a Subscription. This game can be a little more complicated because you've trained players with the 'tutorial' portions of the game, so we could bring back things like 'companion gearing' etc. Because where in the 'Tutorial' the player would always get everything they need for their companions etc to be leveled and geared appropriately, in the 'MMO/New Game+' portion of the game you start becoming responsible for taking care of those sorts of things yourself.

 

You can shift your development focus as well to making the New Game + experience about all the things that make MMO play rewarding for that group of players. By making this the 'post 35' content, interested players can opt into the system, but players who just want the 'BioWare' storytelling never have to.

 

I would then suggest that your resources be devoted to making an environment that is less 'Theme park' and more 'Sandbox' and focuses more on the community. This is the area of the game where the Roleplayers and the PVPers the PVEers can all contribute to a greater community while still dong their 'own thing.' This would be a section of game where BioWare is no longer writing the story for _your_ character. This frees up your writers from trying to manage multiple different classes and threads and storylines and choices that supposedly matter but all have to come back to the same denouement. Instead, your writers can focus on creating scenarios and content that _feel_ like a Star Wars story you can be a part of, and into which you can develop your own characterization. So when you add Raids/Warzones (Open World PVP areas), etc, you can focus them on being places to go encounter, not places that have their story written for the player already.

 

You can then also focus on implementing features and aspects that make the players feel like they are part of the greater universe by their actions in game, as opposed to some story line choices that always end up at the same place in the end.

 

Player populatable zones, where players are able to purchase storefronts and homes in a 'pre-existing' world. (So not to go as far as SWG with completely player created zones, but to design an appropriately 'populate-able' area that is instanced so you have _one_ physical area, but each shop/building/home in the area is a door to an instance that you can choose from a list presented to you at that time you 'click' the door. (See EQ2 Housing for instance)

 

Each planet then can have a social hub, an active city where players may have homes or shops.. shops here being key. I'd suggest developing 'Shop bots' people can purchase and place in their home/shop and add inventory to and do sales through this method rather than the gtn. The GTN would still exist, but increase the percentage the GTN takes for facilitating the sale, to try to encourage more player interaction.

 

Also presently, you focus too much on the cartel market. This essentially removes much opportunity for 'community' from the game. There is little reason for players to interact and become denizens in your world because everything they need they can purchase from your market. Removing avenues for player participation diminishes the longevity prospects of your game.

 

I would suggest then that you look at the crafting system and implement a system where, in the end, the very best equipment is only achievable by working with and purchasing it from another player. Gating the actual equipment behind finding it as a drop from only certain content is exclusionary and results in intra-preference warfare. PVE lords it over the RP or the PVP folks get mad because they have to go PVE to get something and the Crafters are stuck knowing no one needs their stuff because all the best stuff comes from the game, not from the players.

 

Choosing to do this as well allows you to divorce yourself from the 'gear grind' games become, which leads to gearflation, and makes balancing the game more difficult. If you instead gate the gear through a max level being accessible to everyone through crafting, and only the supplies for crafters come from rewardsfor doing whatever activity you choose to do, you are allowed, as designers, to set a 'cap' on gear which makes balancing new content far easier.

 

I would look at systems like ESO's and take a queue on how players can tailor the aesthetics of their equipment by crafting in different styles. Having players be able to find equipment and either RE it themselves or sell to a crafter to RE and potentially learn a new 'aesthetic' design creates a way for crafters to have uniqueness in their goods and market this uniqueness from player run shops. You can still run the cartel market to introduce very specific and aesthetically unique items. You could perhaps shift to a mictro transaction model where a crafter can purchase a design for just a few CC's to produce equipment in that style on a one time basis, and then they can put it up for sale.. Since they would have to buy the pattern again with CC's if they wanted to make it again, you create a potential avenue for continued CC sales but where players are buying equipment they can wear, but not add to a collection to unlock. The idea though is to create a need for one of your communities.. Crafters.

 

Crafters get their materials from many places, mostly PVE and PVP players and them doing what they do.

 

The Game encounters you design for 'New Game +' would be quests etc designed to open up an area and give people an understanding of the story behind the area and what's available in the area. There may be repeatable content (FP's and OP's etc) but there would be other areas that serve as Open World PVP areas like the a reason Tattooine, or Ilum were originally designed for. So players who are looking for PvE can go find it, players looking for Open World PVP can go find it. BOTH of these player types are rewarded with crafting materials etc, from doing what they like, that they can then go trade with social players/crafter players who look for the experience of a community hub.

 

Each player base _needs_ the others. So generating ways for them to interact as a means to progress through the game is a good thing.

 

Further, you can tie these achivements to other activities in the game. I was completely surprised that EA owned Mythic but did not use their experiences from Mythic to make a better integrated world experience where PVP and PVE and Crafters were all symbiotic and could focus on just their area and the game remained vibrant and had n active community even though 'new' content wasn't constantly fed into the game.

 

For example: DAoC had A Dungeon whose access was tied to the actions of the PVP Playerbase. The Dungeon itself was PVE focused (though PVP could be had by the stint of a player being inside the dungeon before it changed hands). This meant, the PVE players would help PVP Players, to achieve the ends to open the Dungeon. The PVE players would benefit with materials and stuff that they could use or share with crafters who could then make better equipment for the PVP players. It created an in game economy and symbiotic relationship. You could always focus on your preferred style of play, but this style of ply had a goal that helped others enjoy theirs. This created communities amongst the gamers.

 

SWTOR could do the same. Having a 'PVP'-zone on each planet where 'control' of the zone can be switched through pvp (and pve.. considering that many of these zones might be presentlypopulated with only Mobs until their is an offensive from one side or the other which then brings in the players.. so Perhaps a force of PVE Raiders hits the main fortress 'switch' that turns a zone and the PVP players act as the rear gard that prevent the opposing PVP players coming to attempt to protect he xzone, etc... Creating these zones (like the frontiers in DAoC) and giving them some benefit (such as acting to the key to a hypergate that gives players access to a 'Gree Planet' which has unique raids, FPs, PVE and PVP areas for materials and such that can make the 'best' gear etc... encourages players to become involved in their game/community and gives it attachment and longevity where a finite storyline does not.

 

Considering that there are engine limitations you could set population restrictions for each of these 'conflict zones' so only so many players from each faction can enter the zone before it was full and refused additional players. This could actually be seen as a feature as it encourages an active server, whenever there is some sort of offensive going on, to not only respond to the zone in question, but if they have the forces, to spread out to other zones. This creates more opportunities for players to feel like they are 'shaping' the galactic conflict.

 

The focus though on 'Your Story' where Your = BioWares, means that this game is always artificially limited to what BioWare wants to do. They started big (8 stories) but as time went on, the only method to keep cohesion was to reduce the story down from 8 to 2 and from then 2 to 1.. and now and forever it would only be possible to adequately develop this single story line. This leads to stagnation and no reason to maintain subbed, make alternate characters, etc. But, but making that just the 'Tutorial' portion of the game, once BioWare's story is done the PLAYER can create a story far more vast.

 

There are many different aspects and I am sure the community could come up with even more. Although not brief, this was just a very high level overview of the idea.

 

Basically, I do not believe you are going to be successful, in the long term, trying to force players down one path or another. I believe though you can effectively provide the experience both groups want. An easy to access 'Story' in the traditional bioware mold that also acts as the tutorial for the leaping off point into the Star Wars, The Old Republic universe where all the stories are yours and yours alone from that point on. Players 'buy' the basic game and they subscribe to the New Game +. The basic game is KotOR 3-10, the New Game + is the SWTOR MMO. If they don't want the mmo, they don't pay a monthly fee, but the can continue to experience the Single Player experience as many times as they want and its streamlines and enjoyable and does not affect the balance of the deeper MMO game at all. The online component to it is just a distribution method and DRM at that point.

 

Essentially I believe you need to focus on creating a set of systems that enable the players to write their own stories, and live their own lives in the SWTOR universe. Give them reasons to continue to pay and play monthly. These players will be your bread and butter, your solid known set of subscribers and monthly income. By removing their aspect of the game from the 'Tutorial/Story' portion both experiences are 'tighter' and its easier to capture your short term, less loyal desired casualaudience who justw ant to play a game and see a story and then quit. And then the 'overlap' market remains. Players who like the story etc and like repeating it, but who also may want to gobeyond that by playing just the MMO portions.

 

And since the MMO portions rely so much on player community and involvement to shape the 'Universe' the players create a lot of content for themselves. Even though the _areas_ of the game they go to are 'static' the reasons for them doing so are most certainly not. You always need 'war materials' you need things to optimize yourself for the conflict, whether you are fighting other players or you are securing objectives through PVE FP's/OP's. Making another group of players who supply the weapons for their various wars the source of the best looking/most efficient equipment means you engage another community of players.

 

Trying to be another WoW is a bad idea. People were drawn to SWTOR because its an MMO in the Star Wars universe. Most all of your players, whether focused on story, focused on PvP, focusedon PVE, or Crafting, ALL of them share the desire to be in the Star Wars universe. And frankly I think its an achievable goal to be 'all things' to these disparate groups and that this would more likely lead to long term revenue for the company, then the current direction you have taken.

 

In all of this I might argue that your 'Metrics' give you a false impression. You 'see' that people want a more Single Player experience, and so you have provided it for them. I might argue that what people have been doing is because this is all they had available to them, and they did it a lot, because they love Star Wars, but really had nothing else to do. People created lots of alts and ran through content in easy mode/over leveled because they had no other meaningful activities open to them. I believe that if you instead provide them more options, you'll see players doing more things. And if these options fit into the categories of play that players like, you'll keep them engaged and they'll tell other players who enjoy the same things that they are enjoying that they can do what they like and it 'matters'.

 

If the PVPer's reward for PVPing is that they have made more of the game accessible for their 'team'. Their actions changed the face of the game world and now the hypergates are linked to Gree, or Mannan or wherever and the PVE players can hit there and get the materials both of these groups need Crafters to transform into better Equipment.

 

If the PVE'ers see that performing 'conquesty' type stuff benefits themselves and the PVP'ers, they'll have reason and motivation to do those aspects of the game they already enjoy, it affects the whole and makes their 'side' in the galactic conflict more advantageous. It gives their activity meaning.

 

If people who like the space battles and GSF find that they can make a planet easier to obtain for the PVE crowd, people who like GSF find they have reason to queue for GSF and maybe help open up a new zone that provides new stuff to upgrade their ships etc.

 

If the crafters and social players who like to hang out in the hubs find that they are now the 'center of commerce' and that PVP, PVE, GSF etc players all need to return to these hubs to transform the stuff they acquire into better stuff you've given these players a reason to keep coming to the game and playing.

 

Your Metrics show players doing only one thing because your game really only gives them one thing to do. Run through the story and then try it with a different class. Unfortunately, your 'streamlining' has now condensed the stories down to the point where players find the latter portion of their 'BioWare Famous Story Content' lacking in replayability. They are not really even incented to keep doing it because everything else post the story is a grind with no real affect in the 'Star Wars' universe because its meaningful choices thatonly have meaning to the single character.

 

I do believe you can integrate Themepark (Tutorial Stories) and Sandbox (New Game +) into one game and where the former helps provide new bodies for the latter play. You can tailor difficulty and learning in the Themepark game and such so that players are prepared for the later New Game +/MMO portion of the game where difficulty ramps up and players are more responsible for their performance, and where multiple opportunities exist for them to engage in the sort of play they enjoy while still having the appearance of making a meaningful impact on the shared game world.

[EnkiduNineEight]

Some more thoughts...

 

additionally, this allows you to divorce 'story' from Factions.. so that your Initial bioWare storylines focus on Just Empire v Republic, but the New Game + portion of the game could allow you to create more factions. Players could slip between these factions with suitable gating through a quest that is time consuming enough that it takes effort to switch your faction, but not so imposing as to mean it _has_ to be a one way journey and you can venture back if you want by 'questing' again. So players couldn't easilymanipulate the populations fo factions to their benefit, but still could engage in greater stories and ideas that are player created.

 

Since the MMO/New Game + portion is outside of your BioWare storyline, whenever you open up a new section of the universe.. Say like with KotFE, you've basically created a new faction in the game. Players may choose to 'Kneel' and actually become part of this new faction from the beginning. This faction allows them to be part of a 'team' of other players (Crafters, GSF, PVP, PVE, etc) and who, because they want access to zones like the 'Gree Planets' or what have you, will start pushing into the existing game zones and against other players from existing factions (Republic, Empire, Neutral/Hutt Cartel, etc) and provide more opportunity for constructive conflict and community.

 

These new residents of the Zakuul/Fallen Empire now try to win zones to their side, enhancing the feel of a perpetual galactic conflict. Each side sees itself as 'good' and the others as 'evil' and all are just seeking to expand their realm of influence and get access to materials etc that will make their residents 'better'.

 

Thus as you 'improve' the story and add future chapters, this can be a way to expnd the New Game+/MMO experience as well, but not _lock_ players into following BioWares storyline for their characters individually.

 

level 'cap' for the Story Line never actually even needs to go up even if you add new content. Inthis way the 'Story' portion of the game does not need to affect the game mechanics and balance of the MMO portion of the game.

 

Another advantage of making most all gear 'Crafter'/Player Createdmeans that you can eliminate things like 'Expertise' and that a PVE and a PVP player would aspire to the same equipment. Both can achieve the raw materials to convert to this equipment through their preferred means of play. This means you no longer have to have a separate set of mechnics for PVE and PVP play. Players can freely shift between these realms to help other players in need.

 

PVE needs help on a big push to achieve domination in a zone through PVE OP, to unlock access to the Hypergate, acailable PVP players can come running and throw their weight behind the action. They don't have to change equipment. PVP players are in need of help, call can go out to the guilds/alliances and PVE players may come running and they don't have to switch equipment either.

 

I think you would find this easier to balance AND when combines with 'level scaling' for worlds much easier to achieve that balance and tune so the game is fair and fun and fresh for everyone involved.

[Djiini]

I only have one question, why would you want the parts Bioware does well to be the intro to the parts they do badly?

 

Seems odd to me.

 

However, I do agree with the thoughts that post-60 contents need to stop having differing factions at all.

Edited November 8, 2015 by Djiini

[JasmineMoldovia]

Didn't read the whole thing, did read the tl;dr

 

Have to disagree, the story is what makes and breaks this game, the "MMO" part as the forums call it, can really die off and the game would be better for it.

[EnkiduNineEight]

Even more thoughts: By changing the 'Story Line' portion of the game into a means to introduce a new area of space/faction, you reduce the strain on your writers, they do not have to accommodate everyone into the storyline and they can focus on that specific factions storyline. There are 'two' outcomes from participating in the storyline. The one you get for being PART of that faction and the one you get for deciding NOT to be a part of that faction.

 

The 'intro' but is only as hard as the existing factions in the game and only really mean the introductory narrative is tuned to fit where you are approaching this new segment of the game from.

 

So with Rise of the Hutt cartel, you had Empire and Republic available, two basic entry points to the story. Then, the players choices will have them either remaining with their chosen faction, or working as part of this new faction. When the story is done, its a self contained vessel to move them into a new faction or strengthen their ties with their existing faction. This gives the player the illusion of choice that 'matters' without tying them specifically to your story and them having to, in the next expansion, make a choice they may not have wanted to. Thus you have choices that matter ( a persons 'side' is determined for them in the end. But not everyone needs to have the same 'end' They are still playing the same game, and their story IS different than other players, but the 'universe'progresed with the same outcome for everyone. Thus their choice feels like it has meaning, but your narrative is also restricted enough you can have fun with it and give players options, and their personal stories are different, but there is still n easy continuity for you to build on for the future.

 

So, choose to side with the Hutts in RotHC, you become part of a third faction, a new player in the galactic game of power and conquest where PVE raids and PVP open World actions shift power and resources temporarily to your side, opens gateways to 'shared' worlds that can be accessed by only one faction at a time and have resources and such that will benefit your 'faction' as a whole as long as you can hold on to it. The game worls has expanded, but its expanded for all players, some just remain with their original faction for the time being. So the story was huge and impactive, but players do actually get a choice that matters;.

 

Then, you later release KotFE, and now players can have been Empire, Rpublic or Hutt. So their starting point/entry into the new story can be more unique to the player, and then through the course fo the story they can choose to join the faction, or strengthen their ties to the origina. One self contained story, two completely separate outcomes that DO NOT need to be tied to a greater storyline/continuity... so your only additional work with yet another new faction/expansion would be having one additional entry point, but as before, there's only two exits. be part of the new faction or return to their old. Stories don't have to be done in any specific order or with any specific outcome.

[EnkiduNineEight]

Didn't read the whole thing, did read the tl;dr

 

Have to disagree, the story is what makes and breaks this game, the "MMO" part as the forums call it, can really die off and the game would be better for it.

 

The story portion would remain. It would be exactly like it is now. In fact it would likely be even tighter as there would be improvements to the game experience and while you would be learning game concepts by playing, you wouldn't be tied to them and things would be made more accessible (comp gearing etc)

 

The end result though would be that reaching the end of the story wouldn't also have you at the end of the level progression in the game. There is really no need to marry the storyline progression to the current level cap. You could do all of those things in the story and have it end at a different level (used 35 as an example) Your story experience doesn't change at all.

 

The storylines would still take as little as they presently take to complete.

 

What you get though is at the end of your story you can decide to start a different story OR you can decide to go outside BioWares story and progress your character from there. progressed players (due to level scaling) could always go back and play new stories as they are released, but that part of the game is the Single Player portion, and the MMO portion remains for those who want it.

 

Your argument appears to be that the MMO portion is not at all desired and that the game would be better as a single player game. My commentary here is that you can make it so that is all you ever do, and by restricting that, and making the MMO the 'new game +' portion it can be more complicated and involved to allow players who want that to have it, while still providing a story experience to the subset of players who only want to have the TTG experience.

 

You get 'both' games from a single source. Increasing your market of available players significantly.

 

Just draw the ven diagram. Players who like a single player only experience. Players who like an MMO experience, players who like both types. These are three different sets of people. Combine them into an environment that allows all of them to enjoy what they want, you have a larger customer base and thus more income.

 

If BioWare abandons its MMO, they are going to lose a significant number of their existing subscriber base.

if Bioware abandons its story, they are going to lose another.

If BioWare insists on the game being utterly casual they lose a set of customers.

If they sinsist on it being hardcore, they lose another set.

 

There is, in my opnion, a way to marry them all into a product where one or the others feed each other and make a more vibrant game and community while providing more play experiences under the same aegis.

[SanjayaP]

This is a well thought idea - i love the scope of it, sadly no developer wants to do this, the effort to change this game into something segmented like that would be too much work, they can just milk the players with what they have for the moment and keep throwing fluff content at a whim.

[Djiini]

This is a well thought idea - i love the scope of it, sadly no developer wants to do this, the effort to change this game into something segmented like that would be too much work, they can just milk the players with what they have for the moment and keep throwing fluff content at a whim.

 

Aye, basically this. It's a nice dream.

[EnkiduNineEight]

Yeah, its a dream. One I think could be made attainable.

 

We alreadyhave the 'guts' in the existing game. We already know as well we can modify these gts to arrive at a different point. See the modification of the class quests with 12x and then the current modifications to them as well. it is thus, quite attainable to 'split' story from MMO aspects.

 

Using 35 as described above as the targeted level, its not a difficult feat to tune ALL story quests across the various classes so that any player finishing the current 'story' could arrive at the targeted level. The only important part here is that the 'ending' level shouldn't be the current in game level cap. Future story content could e added that increases the Storyline Level cap, and this walks you into the 'new' content that players of the New Game + experience have already attained (and thus is already well tested and balanced to boot... Just need to make sure the story missions provide you the things you would need equipment wise since they are the 'easy mode' of the game) and since players of New Game + can go back and add to their story if they have already experienced it level scaling brings them back to reasonable and if its 'super easy' for them that's fine, its a smaller subset of their game experience.

 

So, the bones already exist, just need to tweak exp provided. Tweak rewards provided (ensuring that players get full sets of comp equipment at certain points in the story, immediately prior to a specific comp being 'required' as part of the story, etc) So the turning of the 'exisiting' story lines into the 'tutorial' is practically already done.

 

The additional stuff would take more effort. Updatign the Existing flashpoints and ops to have an 'additinal' reward so that running them increases the influence of your faction certainly would take time, but they took a lot of time doing KotFE as well. Updating/adding 'open World PVP zones' where actions from PVP players can also change your factions influence and help push the galactic war in your favour is additional work, certainly, but as the art assets exist for reach planet already its just making a separate/smaller zone that's used for these pvp goals and it could be introduced in stages over time.

 

Creating the 'reward' zones (I use Gree Planets but could be any number of exotic and difficult to reach locations, could be Old Rakata worlds, etc) would take some significant work, but again could be staged over time.

 

Crafting would be a big change, but one that could be said 'from this point onards, this is how things work.

 

Etc. All of this doesn't have to even be implemented. Heck you could just split story from pushing you to Max level and having the MMO portion used for that presently and it would still be a 'superior' game to present.

 

By marrying max level with the story progression, they enforce that the game experience for story has to cater to the lowest common denominator which costs them a number of other players in their potential market. By making story only advance you 'Half Way'to level cap, story loses NONE of its real depth (its all the same missions etc) and it can be used as an effective tool to teach players the rest of the game if they want to go forward and play the MMO portions.

 

Story players aren't forced to go forward, MMO players aren't forced to deal with a game that _has_ to cater to the LCD. Both get what they want from the game.

 

level scaling allows max level players to go back and do story missions with very little impact on their enjoyment of the other aspects of the game.

Edited November 8, 2015 by EnkiduNineEight

[Artaniz]

This thread is the very definition of delusional . You want them to totally reorganize and rebuild the game ( which they basically just did in 4.0) how exactly do you plan to pay for this work ? What makes you think anyone else wants all this stuff you obviously have spent a lot of time thinking about ? It just seems irrational and pointless to me.

 

I just really wish people would consider the real life cost of game production , the man hours required to code things , and the impact on everyone playing that would go into some of the crazy and inane suggestions that people post , thinking it would be ok if you would just use 5 thousand man hours to totally redo the game because OP cant enjoy what the game is already. But obviously OP you must know best.

[annabethchase]

Ignoring the part that went off the deep end describing changes that would need 100's of millions to add all the sandbox completely new game: They just fixed the game largely along these lines in 4.0. There were dozens of paid professionals making these decisions in an effort to appeal to the specific market SWTOR is going for. What you are asking for just happened, just not exactly the way you wanted.

 

They did simplify how you play in the storyline part of the game to ease you up to endgame. That's essentially what your saying. But you can't then build a completely new AAA MMO at endgame to add to what we already have at endgame.

Edited November 9, 2015 by annabethchase

[annabethchase]

Fyi, anytime you say this: "Trying to be another WoW is a bad idea. " you are just admitting you don't even like the genre the game is in. This is not a sandbox game, never has been and never will be. Strongholds are about the extent of sandbox it will ever have.

[Max_Killjoy]

A Preamble: Please be aware that expressing a negative opinion about an aspect of a game does not mean you hate the game. For many, expressing their negative opinions about a current patch is because they _love_ the game and they believe, for whatever reason, things with the new patch might hurt their game, its longevity, for them or for others. They express their opinions because they hope someone sees them and may do something about it. You can say its futile and things are going to stay the way they are but then you have to wonder about the four years of history of people asking for things to be changed and seeing them change over time. Obviously, expressing your opinion may help affect the shape of the future game.

 

Well said.

 

Always a bit bemused at the level of knee-jerk raw visceral hate that suggestions, complaints, or criticisms draw around here.

[branmakmuffin]

Your tl;dr needs a tl;dr. Can it be summed up as "I don't like change?"

[LordJestR]

This is a prime example of why it takes more than the ability to write long lines text to actually create a game. Can't imagine the arrogance of some people who thinks they know better than the developers who spent hundreds of hours of their lives on the game.

 

"but but I have good ideas". Just can it

[LordArtemis]

I have my take....just what I think would be best for the game moving forward.

 

Graphics pass....all vid sequences need a pass. All textures, especially for player characters need to be reworked in the early game. Still some open seams in the environment and a few polys and vertices that need to be unified in the game models.

 

Music pass....need more original trilogy music in the game, especially at the conclusion of the class story (have commented on this before).

 

Bugs pass....many great features do not work properly, or are not working as efficiently as they should. Shuttle travel for one. Companions and their gear in cutscenes. Our gear in cutscenes. Paperdoll previews. Etc. Double down on fixing some of the bugs that have existed since launch....like the vanishing nar shadaa shuttle.

 

Restoration....I believe the triggers for our abilities need to be moved back to the end of the animations. I also believe that many of the original abilities that had GREAT animations and effects need to be restored to their former glory, like Overload.

 

You have level sync now. Leveling now generally exists as a gate to gaining new abilities as you progress in your class story. It might be wise to extend a report in chat as to what the new level provided to your character so players can be made more aware of their progress....even if it doesn't count, at least it provides the ILLUSION of progression.

 

 

• More storage.
  
• Reduced costs in legacy, especially with travel options.
  
• Strongholds on every planet.
  
• Smaller strongholds.
  
• More legacy storage, legacy bank to share credits, more personal cargo storage tabs.
  
• Access to full color pallet on gear when using dyes....no more untouchable or unaltered colors.
  

• MUCH higher rewards for PVP and Raiding. Higher rewards for grouping. Incentives to group. Higher incentives to join a guild.
  

• REBUILD STARSHIPS SO WE CAN CUSTOMIZE THEM. At the very least let us customize the exteriors.
  
• Add group play and turret play to current single player space combat mission system.....and separate progression.
  

• Find some way to add PVE to current GSF system, and flatten upgrade curve. Also turn "hangars" into alternate strongholds.
  

• Rework PVP to be more like Battlefront.
  
• Allow us to recolor the UI.
  
• Give us dark and light side titles we can buy so we can role play when playing dark side in republic or light in empire.
  

• Complete rebuild of character creator....more appearance choices, better textures, scars, tattoos, eye colors, prosthetics, height adjustment, a few choices for starter gear.
  

• Add auctions to the GTN, with buy it now option.
  

 

The game is moving in the right direction IMO. These are things that I think would be good for the future of this game.

Edited November 9, 2015 by LordArtemis

[EnkiduNineEight]

I am a bit bemused by a few of the responses here. I especially like the pricetags proposed for actions.

 

'Sandbox' elements such a social hubs where players can buy shops/housing sothat its more integrated to the game.. Is not a 100's of millions idea. You just do not understand how coding works.

 

Presently, when you go through a door to an instance, there is already code here to make the 'end point' different than the end point of the person right behind you. So a door can, theoretically, lead to a very large number of resulting spaces in the game, each in itself is unique. This is what 'Instancing' is. Right now there exists code as well, that you can click on a terminal and see a list of instances' that are semi-persistant and by selecting one, you can be transported there.

 

it is not 100's of Millions of dollars and developer hours to make a Building that when you click on the door, gives you a list of the papartments/shops available as instances and transport you to it when you make the choice. It does take some man hours and development costs to design a new zone to add it in. But no where near hundreds of Million of dollars, or this game and every other game would be operating in the red (except maybe WoW at its height of active subs, and some Asian games).

 

other options, like making OP's, FP's, Open World PVP have effects on the game server eg, flipping a switch that makes an object deny/allow a player to use the object based on its faction, already exist. If you were here for pre-release and release, Ilum had this coding.

 

again, there's a cost involved in development, but its not nearly 100's of Millions of dollars like you're throwing around as if you are some sort of expert but very obviously are not.

 

The main gist is that a multiplayer game that lacks community, tends to have a shorter lifespan than a game that has a community. The present seeming focus on pushing everything to a single player experience with occasional multiplayer participation bleeds longevity from the game. The goal of any MMO development team should be, How do I keep the players wanting to continue playing the game, even if I haven't added 'content' and a good portion of that is by combining Sandbox elements with Theme park elements. Themepark elements are the hook that draw you in, Sandbox elements are the portions that keep you there once you are done with the Themepark.

 

You're welcome to disagree, but as someone who has been involved in software development, who has developed MMO's/Online RPG's (though always as a fun project, never as a for profit) I'm aware of how existing systems and code and be purposed in ways that they are not currently used for. Its certainly not necessary to rebuild everything from the ground up.

[branmakmuffin]

Give us dark and light side titles we can buy so we can role play when playing dark side in republic or light in empire

Titles have nothing to do with RP.