GSF needs love

[Greezt]

Hello devs, I hope you read this.

 

A while ago, you posted this thread on the Gsf forums. As I'm sure you know, it's gotten lots of responses.

 

Understandably, Gsf isn't your top priority at the moment. The new storyline, the game changes, everything that happened obviously takes priority. But yesterday in the stream, I was hoping you'd say something about Gsf. Not a strike rebalance (although that would be nice), but something. A new map, a bug fix... Anything.

 

The Gsf community has been growing ever since 4.0 launch, I'm sure people have felt it. With more players becoming active in the game, it would make more sense to give us some much missed attention.

 

I'd love to know what you have in store for Gsf. Please let us know, in forums or in the next dev stream.

 

Thanks

[artbunny]

You have my ax- uh, thermite torpedo!

 

But on a more serious note, I agree full-heartedly! My server has a growing and pretty active GSF community, and I'd love to see it get some love. New maps, new ships, new playstyles... it'd all be welcome!

[Fluffometer]

I must give this another go - thanks for the reminder! I was amusingly rubbish at it first time around.

[Stradlin]

Galactic Starfighter is by far the best, most unique portion of SW:TOR. Experience you get from playing SW:TOR as a GSF pilot is one you can get from no other MMO. If we look past the social aspects (friends, RPs, guild commitments, bla bla), GSF is the sole reason I still keep playing TOR.

 

Having to watch such an awesome, unique portion of the game to go completely overlooked while EA happily enough earmarks tens of millions to daddy issue CGI and new expansion that mostly boils down to watching four hours of cutscenes makes a script for a very sad comedy.

 

I must give this another go - thanks for the reminder! I was amusingly rubbish at it first time around.

 

Everybody always is.; p I'm not sure if anyone has ever been *good* in GSF from the get go. If you watch few good tutorial videos and find a way to make the learning-the-basics -bit fun, rest will pretty much take care of itself .

Edited January 15, 2016 by Stradlin

[branmakmuffin]

GSF is a failed mini-game, like PvE space is. No point in throwing good money after bad. STO is that way ---->

[Lendul]

I must give this another go - thanks for the reminder! I was amusingly rubbish at it first time around.

It is very fun once you get your bearings and the game slows down some. There are some pretty good GSF streams that people can watch and learn from now. Which is not something that was not abundantly available when GSF launched.

 

To comment on the subject of this post. I now speak to the developers. I play GSF more than any other part of the game aside from doing the story. I have tried to support GSF by buying everything related to GSF in the Cartel market. I am now at a problem where I do not have anything left to buy. If you would make it I would buy it. The GSF community is the most friendly PvP community I have been involved in. They are also trying very hard by constantly having player created content. Examples of this are things such as:

 

1. Stock Nights
   
2. Strike FIghter only nights
   
3. Conquest events involving the greater GSF community
   
4. Super Serious Night where the all stars from each server assemble on a particular server to have no holds barred epic showdowns
   

 

In many of these events prizes are given out. If new Cartel market items were developed they would undoubtedly be bought as prizes for these events as well. Which would encourage even more events. Which would lead to more prize buying.

 

Another easy to facilitate request would be to ask the community team to pass by the GSF forums to see what is going on. It might not seem like much, but Tweeting about the community created events would go a long way. Many of these are being streamed and could even help promote and inject a little more life into the game. I guess I am simply asking you to help us help you.

 

Lastly this request is in no way unique to GSF and I am sure it is the most common request from all the different sections of the game. Please try to get the outstanding bugs fixed. The most notable would be the bottom tier selection of sabotage probe that breaks the functionality of the component when selected.

 

Thank you for your time and reading this. For any players taking the time to read this /cjoin your server's GSF channel and let us prove our willingness to help you enjoy this part of the game with us. It is named "GSF" on every server other than the Republic side on the POT5 server there it will be "Pilot"

Edited January 15, 2016 by Lendul

[branmakmuffin]

Super Serious Night where the all stars from each server assemble on a particular server to have no holds barred epic showdowns

So the same small group of vets fighting each other over and over and over ...

 

The words "elitism" and "who cares?" spring to mind.

[Lendul]

So the same small group of vets fighting each other over and over and over ...

 

The words "elitism" and "who cares?" spring to mind.

It only happens maybe once a month. It is just an event the GSF people do for fun and allows pilots to get to know people from other servers. I guess the closest thing to this in game would be the ranked queue for regular PvP except in GSF it would only be up for 4 hours once a month and only on 1 server. Definitely not intended for elitism.

[ImmortalLowlife]

Add controller/joystick support, and I'll give it another shot. But the current control scheme is imho.....GARBAGE. You loose a LOT of players off this aspect alone.

[Lendul]

Add controller/joystick support, and I'll give it another shot. But the current control scheme is imho.....GARBAGE. You loose a LOT of players off this aspect alone.

I am not sure it would help even if they did. The joystick people would still find themselves at significant disadvantage to the keyboard and mouse players. In a true flight sim this would not be the case, but GSF can not really be considered a flight sim and was never intended to be one because there are not enough physics in place to categorize it as such. GSF is more of a twitch shooter which is what Bioware has always called it "Space Combat".

[Stradlin]

Add controller/joystick support, and I'll give it another shot. But the current control scheme is imho.....GARBAGE. You loose a LOT of players off this aspect alone.

 

This is you asking for features that are excellent in some *other* engine.

 

GSF flight engine, as it stands is actually pure gold. It works like a charm and has utterly unexpected amounts of sophistication and detail going. To a degree where space shooting in the new Battlefront felt like a huge downgrade in terms of depth.

 

GSF was designed for m+kb from the ground up, and I can imagine this would result in all other solutions feeling kinda unwelcome and weird. In current flight engine, I'm quite sure using joystick (not to mention a pad..) would put you in a major disadvantage. More arcade the flight engine, harder it is to find reasons to use a joystick for it. Star Citizen forums have lots of very disappointed owners of expensive Joystick+HOTAs combos, who to their horror realize that ultimately, they prove most accurate and lethal with mouse instead.

 

 

Everybody is perfectly free to like/hate GSF as much as they like, it certainly not for everyone and all that. Still, I'd like to underline that if you dislike it due to perceived notion that current engine and control scheme are garbage , it is you being a new pilot, not engine being dysfunctional or bad in any objective fashion.

 

I have never heard of a pilot who wouldn't have been pretty bad in GSF towards the beginning. GSF isn't Falcon 4.0 in space or anything, but there absolutely is bit of a learning curve. On the other hand, it comes with utterly worthless in-game tutorials that don't really give you opportunity to learn anything much. It makes an unfortunate combination.

 

Guides section of the site in my signature has a decent collection of links to some good video tutorials and the like for GSF.

Edited January 15, 2016 by Stradlin

[ImmortalLowlife]

I am not sure it would help even if they did. The joystick people would still find themselves at significant disadvantage to the keyboard and mouse players. In a true flight sim this would not be the case, but GSF can not really be considered a flight sim and was never intended to be one because there are not enough physics in place to categorize it as such. GSF is more of a twitch shooter which is what Bioware has always called it "Space Combat".

 

Up, down, left, & right....those are the only physics they need. No-one is asking for full 360° flight sim range of motion. Just an alternative to that "chase the cursor" mouse control they got now.

 

 

...Everybody is perfectly free to like/hate GSF as much as they like, it certainly not for everyone and all that. Still, I'd like to underline that if you dislike it due to perceived notion that current engine and control scheme are garbage , it is you being a new pilot, not engine being dysfunctional or bad in any objective fashion....

 

You sound like someone who's spent the majority of his gaming life playing with a kb/mouse. As someone who's spent 99.9% of my gaming time over the last 35 years playing with a controller I completely disagree. The thing is....regardless of what they (the Devs) intended, GSF IS AN UTTER FAILURE. One of the BIGGEST complaints and reasons it failed is the controls. When it launched there were countless threads with people asking for the same thing I am.

 

And personally I don't think that keyboard players would have an advantage for very long. Some of us are a LOT more comfortable with a controller than a mouse. If anything, we'd be the ones with an advantage. Either way, it'd mean a lot of new players in GSF ques.

Edited January 15, 2016 by ImmortalLowlife

[Lendul]

Either way, it'd mean a lot of new players in GSF ques.

If they added joystick support would you continue to play even if you had a disadvantage? Hypothetically of course

[TX_Angel]

Understandably, Gsf isn't your top priority at the moment.

 

I'd love to know what you have in store for Gsf. Please let us know, in forums or in the next dev stream.

 

Thanks

 

Top priority? It isn't even bottom priority... It has been scuttled, never to be touched again...

 

Seriously, I play GSF several times a week, I actually like GSF, but I'm not blind, it has been abandoned.

[mudmobile]

I would so love for them to return it to what it was in the first month or so before all the, shall we say "tweaks", began.

 

I have always been a big fan of GSF even though they kept trying to make me hate it with all the lets kill GS "tweaks". Sadly there came a point where I stopped playing it.

 

It would be good to see them put some life back into it.

[Stradlin]

You sound like someone who's spent the majority of his gaming life playing with a kb/mouse. As someone who's spent 99.9% of my gaming time over the last 35 years playing with a controller I completely disagree.

 

 

Ever thought there is a huge flipside to this? If only 0.1% of all your gaming has ever happened with kb+mouse, then I'm certain it must feel an utterly alien and hostile control solution for you almost by default. No wonder you find much to struggle in GSF controls then. It'd prolly get better in time.

I use quite a bit of pad myself and actually usually use it for the few FPS games I play. Yet, not in a million years would I ever claim it more accurate solution than M+KB.

 

 

 

Putting something in caps doesn't make it true. Every single larger server has an extremely vibrant community around GSF. That is not to say it wouldn't absolutely be a minority. In my books, successful MMO is all about having a large selection of different minorities doing their thing. Sometimes overlapping or intersecting. It is the very corner stone of making the world feel " large" in meaningful way. I don't enjoy the thought of being a hard core raider in TOR at all. No intention to ever do it. Yet, do I wish the game will always have it's hard core raiding community doing their thing and preferably being reasonably sizable, content and active? Absolutely.

 

Control scheme and flight engine of GSF are extremely high regard among it's fans. You always see said fans being extremely critical towards their favorite past time. You always see people pointing out it's flaws. Rarely do you see anyone mentioning controls or engine as one of these flaws. It is very difficult for typical TOR player to like it. This isn't indication there'd be some critical flaw in GSF..or in the typical TOR player. Just that they, unfortunately, make an unlikely marriage.

Edited January 15, 2016 by Stradlin

[Urglab]

Galactic Starfighter is by far the best, most unique portion of SW:TOR. Experience you get from playing SW:TOR as a GSF pilot is one you can get from no other MMO. If we look past the social aspects (friends, RPs, guild commitments, bla bla), GSF is the sole reason I still keep playing TOR.

 

Having to watch such an awesome, unique portion of the game to go completely overlooked while EA happily enough earmarks tens of millions to daddy issue CGI and new expansion that mostly boils down to watching four hours of cutscenes makes a script for a very sad comedy.

 

 

 

Everybody always is.; p I'm not sure if anyone has ever been *good* in GSF from the get go. If you watch few good tutorial videos and find a way to make the learning-the-basics -bit fun, rest will pretty much take care of itself .

 

+1

 

I really wish GSF would get some love, just some bugfixes would be amazing right now. Yes it's not easy when first trying it. But stick with it and you will see the wonderful depth of gameplay it offers.

[ImmortalLowlife]

....but rarely you see controls or flight engine mentioned. it is very difficult for typical TOR player to like it. This isn't indication there'd be some critical flaw in GSF..or in the typical TOR player. Just that they make an unlikely marriage.

 

The reason you rarely see it mentioned is because the players who thought/think like me got **** on repeatedly whenever we voiced a negative opinion about kb/mouse controls, or asked for an OPTION. (btw...it's in caps for emphasis kinfolk )We stopped commenting. If our playstyle preferences don't matter then why bother? It's just like ole boy....Alex whatever his name is who's been asking for proper Jedi robes for years. He used to get **** from the community for constantly posting about it. Now you don't see him making as many post about it, but according to his sig he's still waiting. And I'm sure there are a lot more who think like he does. I don't go into the GFS forum asking for optional control options. But if you put it in gen chat, I'ma let my thoughts and opinions be known. And I'm positive I'm not the only one who feels like this. YOU want GSF to be more popular and get more attention from the devs, but you freely admit that "it's difficult for the typical TOR player to like it. Well....I'M the typical TOR player. Guess what it'd take to get me to like it? Guess what ONE option they'd need to add? ( hint...it's not a Jedi robe )

 

If they added joystick support would you continue to play even if you had a disadvantage? Hypothetically of course

 

Hypothetically.....yes I would. I'm more comfortable and confident with a controller. I know I'd get better, and fact is.....anybody can be beaten on any given day.

 

It's not about ALWAYS winning....it's about having fun. I've had fun plenty of times while getting my *** handed to me. ( Mostly while playing Madden. or Street Fighter btw) But I still hop on the PS3 or PS4 a few times a week for a game of Madden.

Edited January 15, 2016 by ImmortalLowlife

[AlrikFassbauer]

GSF ?

 

I don't care, it's merely aces farming Newbies.

[TUXs]

GSF was amazing tbh...but...it's not the lack of attention to it that has destroyed it for me, it's the players themselves. The groups of players running Gunship and Bomber combos did it for me...just took the fun out of it. Bombers were the worst thing to ever happen to GSF imo.

[True_Rune]

More and New GSF Please!

[Sportiva]

I very much like GSF, but after you master your ship, there is little motivation to keep playing the same maps over & over & over & over again. I would be happy with a reward system similar to the season rewards for ranked PvP. That would provide me with the motivation to at least completely my daily & weekly missions.

[LordFell]

GSF ?

 

I don't care, it's merely aces farming Newbies.

Not long ago, I was a newbie... I don't know if I'm an Ace, but I get my fair share of kills and medals.

 

I see a lot of thread-hijack about how GSF is abandoned content... but, the point of the thread is for us, fans of GSF to prod the developers "hey, we like this, please support this." Arguing that the content is dead is pointless... if there are players coming to the forums saying "give us content!" for it.

 

Here are my thoughts...

Right now the only real "place" for pilots in the game is a tiny little kiosk near one of the turbo-lifts on fleet. It would not take a lot of development to make an actual hangar for players to go to. Add a new PvP Star Destroyer/Valor-Class Cruiser to the Fleet map. Have a "drop ship" for ground PvP battles, a "recreational Hutt-ball field" for troops, and an extended fighter hangar for GSF pilots. Mostly, I'd like to see bays lined with the different types of ships, as well as a lounge for the pilots to hang out in; we mostly know each other already through the GSF channel, but having a place to hang out would be cool.

 

A lot of complaints about the learning curve. I don't really care if the game gets Joystick control or not... but people need a chance to fly their ships, learn and customize their controls, without flying veterans coming by to blow them up. The tutorial isn't adequate. I'd like to see a basic tutorial, an advanced tutorial, and a "Free Flight" mode, just to take a ship out, and fly around... maybe put some targets out. Mostly, this would be to let people customize their UI and Controls without being in a battle.

 

PvE Missions. In addition to tutorials, it would be nice to have a short, daily quest for each type of ship so players can practice basic skills appropriate to each ship type. These would be short, and offer only a small amount of ship requisition.

1) Scouts would seek and destroy a fast-moving drone.

2) Bombers would lay mines at a series of strategic points.

3) Gunships would peel the defensive turrets off a satellite.

4) Strike Fighters....? Harder to think up a mission for the generalist ship.

 

New Maps & Battle Types. I understand that when the GSF was a lot busier, 12 vs 12 battles were common, I've rarely seen it. Often, what I see is 2 or 3 people in GSF wondering if they'll get a match before bed time. Smaller maps for 2 vs 2 or 4 vs 4 flights could help to some degree. The other thing that might be interesting, is matches designed for unbalanced teams. The scenario I envision is a damaged frigate has dropped out of hyperspace for repairs; 2 (or 4) defenders try to prevent a team of 4 (or 8) attackers from finishing it off. The frigate would have a certain amount of defenses to "even the odds."

 

Cartel Market items. Here's a really simple idea... add some of the Cosmetic items for GSF to regular packs. Maybe not "instead" of an item, but as a bonus item. Putting more GSF gear on the market (Cartel or GTN) will raise the profile. Someone who has maybe never heard of the game may very well be intrigued to get a fancy new Blaster Color for the Fighter they never knew they had.

[Greezt]

GSF ?

 

I don't care, it's merely aces farming Newbies.

 

I gotta say, out of all the negative comments here yours is the most disappointing to me. I've seen you around on the PvP forums, and I think you're not one prone to whining. GSF has a steep learning curve, but so does every PvP game. Not all GSFers are newbie killers. Come to the GSF forums, and see for yourself that the community is much less toxic than the PvP one.

 

Anyway, I don't wanna deviate to much.

[Lendul]

I very much like GSF, but after you master your ship, there is little motivation to keep playing the same maps over & over & over & over again. I would be happy with a reward system similar to the season rewards for ranked PvP. That would provide me with the motivation to at least completely my daily & weekly missions.

I agree. Player created content is the only thing left once you have all your ships mastered.