Yodamadashi Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 (edited) I have played SWTOR excessively for the past 2 weeks and I can say it is a fun game and a great respite from WoW or any other game I have been playing. Now this thread is not going to be a comparison thread at all, I do not wish to compare WoW to SWTOR to any other MMORPG since everyone seems to be constantly doing it. I am just interested in the future of this game, and what the community thinks is going to happen. ---------------- PRO'S 1. CYOA One thing many other MMORPG's don't have is the ability to Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA). I feel Bioware does a great job letting the players develop their character and choose their own adventures through quests and instances. This is a huge advantage for SWTOR. 2. Companions and Crew Skills The thing I absolutely despised in WoW and other MMORPGs is the time wasted on leveling crafting skills. The ability to have your companions to manage your resources while you are questing or instancing is a huge relief. Companions are also a great part of the game. Whether it's Mako or Khem Val, there is a story between your companion and your character and the companions can handle themselves too. This leads to number 3... 3. Story I will admit I am not a Star Wars fan when I started playing SWTOR. Sure, I watched the movies once and maybe the 4th, 5th, and 6th movies twice, but I have never been a Star Wars fan. I certainly did not dislike Star Wars but I was a bit anxious about the story in this game. All I have to say is that the story is absolutely brilliant and encompassing to the player. I personally did not expect the story to be great but this has exceeded my best expectation of the game having a decent story. Maybe it is just me, but in my opinion, SWTOR truly has some excellent story telling that is told by NPC's and your character through... (yep leading to number 4...) 4. Voice Acting The voice acting by Lucas Arts is par to Skyrim. I played Skyrim for over 70 hours already since it's release and I think the voice acting in SWTOR is just as great as Skyrim. SWTOR is the only MMORPG I believe to have voice acting and it does set a tough benchmark for any other MMORPG to reach. This is one major plus to this game. And if you don't like voice acting... just turn on subtitles, and press spacebar once you read (or don't read). 5. Ship Now, many MMORPG's are vast and expansive but I cannot recall a single MMORPG that gives you personal property (except for Runescape constructing -> Houses... but it's Runescape...). When I play a MMORPG, I want to feel I own things. I want to feel that I actually am receiving compensations for all the time I put in the game. This is why I loved Bethseda Elder Scrolls because of the HOUSES! But Skyrim and Oblivion were single player games and many other major MMORPGs such as WoW do not give you a personal home. SWTOR does not give you a personal home, but gives you a ship that you actually do use often and can be customized (I will go into detail about the controversial ship battle later). The ship gives the feeling of ownership and seeing it fill up with companions does it's job to make the player feel all powerful and mighty. 6. Content There is a TON of content in this game. Every class has it's own story. Every faction has it's own story. And there is content for every choice you make. The content in this game exceeds the expectations of a NEWLY released MMO. I can assure you that SWTOR raises the benchmark for new MMOs that are to be made. ---------- CON'S Disclaimer: As you read above, I obviously love SWTOR right now, but I am not a delusional fanboy who says SWTOR has no flaws. All MMORPGs will have it's flaws and SWTOR being a NEWLY released MMORPG certainly does not escape the flaws of many MMORPG's. 1. Bugs Yes. All MMORPG's have bugs. SWTOR being just released 2 weeks ago makes it have even more bugs. I do not have to go into detail about these bugs but they DO have an impact on gameplay and some frustrations in the game. However, this will hopefully go down in Con's as Bioware fixes the bugs. Remember, it took them over THREE YEARS to make this game and it will take longer than 2 weeks to fix all the bugs in the game. Yes, there is the argument that Bioware shouldn't have released the game with so many bugs but Bioware wanted to keep it's customer's the promise for the release date to be 12/20/11, which they succeeded. This reason is enough for me to turn my head against this major con. Hopefully, as everyone and Bioware says, these bugs will be addressed and patched and I have already seen some bug fixes. Hopefully Bioware keeps this up and polishes this game to be supreme. 2. Imbalanced Factions Now, I am not 100% sure about this but I RARELY see any republic players. I understand that being evil is awesome and everyone wants to be an evil awesome sith (including me) which brings up the problem, imbalanced factions? This is all the republics I have seen so far in my 2 weeks of playing: 2 Jedi's in Tatooine. Though one of them was hilariously funny and tried to gank a 16 man Ops group taking down Trapjaw, the World Boss. 1 Jedi in Nar Shadaa, in the Lower Promenade. ~20 Jedi's in PvP, over the span of 10 games (most games I end up playing against other empire teams). This is not something that Bioware can fix by themselves. Obviously people choose between Empire and Republic but Bioware CAN make the Republic faction look more tantalizing. Make some ****** Republic champions or something but this is a growing problem that will affect PvP (which is the server type I am playing on). This leads to... 3. PvP I will admit that I love the warzones. Huttball is a fresh new modification of Capture the Flag and the other 2 warzones are just as good, but the major flaws in PvP are balancing issues right now. Right now, I DO NOT see a HUGE problem with PvP. I do see problems with it but not big enough problems to make me not want to PvP. I do see many imbalanced issues though, such as slows and knock-aways being king of Huttball. There is also the issue of lvl 50's PvPing against lvl 10's. Originally, I was a HUGE fan of this bolstering idea. But as I leveled up, I realized how ridiculously unfair PvP is to low levels. Low Levels do not have the spells or talents of a high level and the armor of a high level. Sure, their stats are bolstered but even a bolstered lvl 10 cannot beat a lvl 50 in a fair fight, no matter the conditions (maybe some matter in skill level but that's another factor). I would say make brackets. You do not have to do the WoW Brackets of 10-19, 20-29, etc, but the simple bolstering brackets such as 10-29 (where people are bolstered to the stats of a lvl 29) and 30-49, and a 50 PvP bracket. Also, this is not a con but I personally would LOVE to see a PvP Arena with teams and such. ----------- Now, this is just some Pro's and the major Con's I can think of. I love SWTOR but I am willing to admit this game does have it's flaws. But this is what I am wondering. Will SWTOR be a hit? Sure, it has over 1.5 million players, but from what I see, people are dropping like flies due to some technical issues or the PvP. I personally will hang on to this game for at least 2 months (my 2 months of prepaid time ). But I REALLY do want to see SWTOR succeed. I do not hate WoW but I will admit I have had enough of WoW for my lifetime. I have not tried some other MMORPGs but SWTOR was truly captivating in all of it's pro's. I have made a poll with what you will do. I want to know if YOU want to see it succeed. I want to know if YOU like the game. I think SWTOR will succeed but only if Bioware acts fast. The modern gamer does not have patience (even I have limited patience) and if Bioware cannot balance itself before gamers run out of patience or another MMORPG updates/releases, SWTOR will fall swiftly. I would say SWTOR has a good 3+ months to fix major issues right now before people drop completely. Also, for all the people that are hating the game because of a technical issue, please do some research. My patcher stopped due to, "Unable to retrieve patch... etc", and I did as Roy from IT Crowd would say: "HAVE YOU TRIED TURNING THE COMPUTER OFF AND ON AGAIN?" --------- Just my thoughts on this game and addressing some issues. Flame away or comment away or troll away, I am invincible! EDIT: I did not see an option to create a poll when creating this thread... so just comment your thoughts. *scribbles onto Con List* FIX FORUM THINGIES AND ADD SEARCH OPTION!!!!!! Edited December 28, 2011 by Yodamadashi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amdarius Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 I don't really care about the voice acting. It's kind of neat, but it just takes soooo long that I would rather just read it. Frankly, I'd rather they had spent the time and money they invested in voice acting into guild and multiplayer functionality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinister-Sith Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 "From what I see, people are dropping like flies" And what do you see, exactly? People complaining on the forums? That's hardly an indicator of people "dropping like flies". There are a lot of people that are really, really enjoying this game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elgarr Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 If they don't fix the stabilities for people it will be very short lived for a lot. It's not a taxing game for people's machines, that's why they made it like that so they could get more subs, bit when people are suffering constant problems through this totals stupid error 9000 and the constant disconnects, it's irelivent how much content they add, as people won't pay for something they can't play. It's a server issue that seems to be affecting all sorts who have totally different systems, ISP's etc. I can live with stupid in game bugs, but any that are game breaking where you can't play, is a deal breaker for many! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brokentelevision Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 yeah once I get through the story line I'm quitting and going back to a real MMO. This isn't a real MMO. I'm a fan of mmo's and the social aspect of it. I shouldn't have to go out and search for the social part in a MMO. It should be right there. There could stand to be something like rifts public questing system. Something to add a dynamic flavor that grabs the peoples attention and gets them to work together. And this game has so much potential in that. You level as Republic and the story line makes you hate sith with a firm passion due to the story line. You level as empire, well you pretty much hated jedi to begin with and the story really doesn't give you much more reason to anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yodamadashi Posted December 28, 2011 Author Share Posted December 28, 2011 "From what I see, people are dropping like flies" And what do you see, exactly? People complaining on the forums? That's hardly an indicator of people "dropping like flies". There are a lot of people that are really, really enjoying this game. In my journey of researching to fix my patching problem, I saw many forum threads about how so and so is leaving because of some problem. Maybe it's just a pissed off customers trying to scare Bioware, so I may be wrong about that comment. On the other side though, I do see many people that do love this game, including me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jett-Rinn Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 And what do you see, exactly? People complaining on the forums? That's hardly an indicator of people "dropping like flies". There are a lot of people that are really, really enjoying this game. Yeah it's such a condescending attitude. "I really like the game and I want it to succeed but people are dropping like flies and a lot of things suck and if they don't do exactly as I say the game will be F2p in a week and I still can't help but wonder will anything ever be good as WoWzorz!!!" Please give me a break. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yodamadashi Posted December 28, 2011 Author Share Posted December 28, 2011 Yeah it's such a condescending attitude. "I really like the game and I want it to succeed but people are dropping like flies and a lot of things suck and if they don't do exactly as I say the game will be F2p in a week and I still can't help but wonder will anything ever be good as WoWzorz!!!" Please give me a break. I do not play WoW and I have tried my best to not compare this game to WoW or any other MMO extensively. I said people are dropping like flies due to what I saw in the support forum. Obviously I might have done a half-assed assumption but I am not wanting this game to be like WoW (Actually I wish it to be as far away from WoW, that way people can stop comparing those 2 games), and since when did I talk about a free 2 play option/demand in my thread? You sir, seriously misread my post or are trolling me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yodamadashi Posted December 28, 2011 Author Share Posted December 28, 2011 If people want to keep bringing up on my comment "people dropping like flies", I will remove it so that people can actually discuss SWTOR and not what I think. I want to hear what people think about this game, and not what you think about my writing and thoughts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vydor_HC Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 good write up OP. I haven't played the game much, but I can see it settling in to it's own niche. However, there are a heck-uva-lota players in the game right now. So it might have a bigger niche to settle in to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papazooki Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 I see it taking a big chunk of the MMO market. It will probably compete with WoW, which will result in great content from both MMOs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owenthorn Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 I have played SWTOR excessively for the past 2 weeks and I can say it is a fun game and a great respite from WoW or any other game I have been playing. Now this thread is not going to be a comparison thread at all, I do not wish to compare WoW to SWTOR to any other MMORPG since everyone seems to be constantly doing it. I am just interested in the future of this game, and what the community thinks is going to happen. ---------------- PRO'S 1. CYOA False, it is a false sense of choice, you pick an answer you are given, and if you are trying to get full DS, you have no choice in your decisions at all 2. Companions and Crew Skills I dont mind leveling my skills, but I hate the fact if you dont have your companion out you cannot do a lot of the quests in the game 3. Story Bioware does single player story driven games, you didnt know that? 4. Voice Acting almost every MMO has some voice acting, SWTOR just takes it to ridiculous levels 5. Ship you can craft anywhere, the ship is nice, but this is SW, dont have a ship, fans would be rabid about not haveing a ship 6. Content No they didn't, they are the same go here, kill this, bring this, find that quests all MMO's have, nothing special here ---------- CON'S 1. Bugs wrong it was FIVE (5) years in the making and they still released a beta version, first patch is out, and many of the game breaking bugs are not fixed, but the made the resource nodes shiny, cosmetics last, bugs first 2. Imbalanced Factions Will always be that way, you nor BW can fix it, force people to other faction, force people to other servers =Cancelled sub in a heart beat 3. PvP PvP will never be balanced, EVER, wow has tried for 7 years and can't do it, all it has accomplished is messing up the PvE game for everyone else lvl 50, should never be PvP with lvl 10, utter fail, level brackets are needed, period ----------- You dont read the CS forums much, turning your computer on and off will not fix the problems with the game fail on BW cannot comprehend quote post........... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yodamadashi Posted December 28, 2011 Author Share Posted December 28, 2011 I see it taking a big chunk of the MMO market. It will probably compete with WoW, which will result in great content from both MMOs. I do see it right behind WoW in customer base at the moment. This will definitely make Blizzard start working to compete against it. Hopefully it will make a new "apples and oranges" in the MMORPG market instead of "apples and... apples". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokt Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 Its a good game. It will attract a good sized subscriber base for a long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yodamadashi Posted December 28, 2011 Author Share Posted December 28, 2011 @OwenThorn It was a joke... if you watch IT Crowd you would get it. And yes, OBVIOUSLY turning your computer on and off against does not fix all problems... Also, I specifically stated that I want to hear the community's response to the game, and not response to my writing? Not sure why you are nitpicking my writing... just tell me what you think about SWTOR, gawd! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MasterOfEnts Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 Good game. I'll put in another 20 hours before finalizing my opinion. I think it has potential. Don't really care for the voice overs. Just like Skyrim (and similar games), I skip the voice overs and just deal with the quest objective. Story is not what I play games for. Movies and books, yeah, but not games. Some nasty performance problems on some rigs. FPS stutters pretty badly when running around the world. Combat is decently engaging. For now. Nothing really new in my experience. Might change as I'm still relatively new. Seeing folks around, but they're not really impacting my play at all. Hope that changes. May have a decent future, but it's hard to be certain at this point. Will check back in when I'm closer to the endgame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azureas Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 I do not play WoW and I have tried my best to not compare this game to WoW or any other MMO extensively. I said people are dropping like flies due to what I saw in the support forum. Obviously I might have done a half-assed assumption but I am not wanting this game to be like WoW (Actually I wish it to be as far away from WoW, that way people can stop comparing those 2 games), and since when did I talk about a free 2 play option/demand in my thread? You sir, seriously misread my post or are trolling me Its just the common theme right now, so people have a auto anti-troll shield up at the moment and are over active about it. As far as judging how many people are leaving due to the forums, there was a nice quote said about it "Judging the life of an MMO by its forums is like judging the health of a city by its hospitals" The people who enjoy the game normally aren't gonna come on here and praise bioware. The people who hate the game will though. So you get a concentrated group of people who don't like it on the forum. If ya go into the game and ask what people who are playing what they think, they will overwhelming state this game is great. Again, its cause there is a concentration of people who like it in the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yodamadashi Posted December 28, 2011 Author Share Posted December 28, 2011 Its just the common theme right now, so people have a auto anti-troll shield up at the moment and are over active about it. As far as judging how many people are leaving due to the forums, there was a nice quote said about it "Judging the life of an MMO by its forums is like judging the health of a city by its hospitals" The people who enjoy the game normally aren't gonna come on here and praise bioware. The people who hate the game will though. So you get a concentrated group of people who don't like it on the forum. If ya go into the game and ask what people who are playing what they think, they will overwhelming state this game is great. Again, its cause there is a concentration of people who like it in the game. This is very true! I should have known by now, after all the time I spend on League of Legend Forums! Shame on me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jhonen Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 I think if BioWare plays their cards right, this game will have a great future. It might even go head to head with WoW. Only time will tell, but I have faith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thradar Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 No one's going to read that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jhonen Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 No one's going to read that. Sort of true. A lot of people have stopped looking at these forums because they're tired of people either pointing out every last flaw, or wondering if this game has a future. I think so, and so do many other people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lmaonade Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 (edited) it's doomed to fail unless they can fix the ability delay bug. and also they need to move the european servers to frankfurt or paris. dublin? lol. couldnt find anywhere more distant ? even africa would give more decent pings to people who live in eastern europe... Edited December 28, 2011 by Lmaonade Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jett-Rinn Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 I look for it to expand the market. I honestly believe that TOR will attract a new type of subscriber and that demographic will be the bulk of it's subscriptions. I understand that even mentioning this pisses off the Hardcore to no end but even if they can't or refuse to see it; TOR is something special; it's more like being part of a shared novel or Television series. I fully expect to see the population rise above three million by the end of 2012; I also fully expect it to be the most hated MMO by hardcore players...which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katnap Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 Honestly, it's very early to make any accurate preditions, but I don't mind adding my two credits. I think it's a fun game, something different from my usual and preferred fantasy genres. I am a casual player and RPer, so I do find the classes I play to be fun. I don't go into any game wanting to be the first to cap or to have the best and hottest gear, so my view might be quite different than others. I don't mind the voice acting, and quite like it at times, though it does take a lot longer to read. Maybe a compromise is in order. I don't know about game design, but maybe making it possible to either choose text or voice? Most of the time I'd use voice, but sometimes I just am in a bigger hurry. I do think that one of the big parts of the hype pre game was the voice acting of NPCs in an MMO. It's different, but I can't say it's a game maker. As for the future, yes I'd like to see the game succeed. A lot will depend on whether there will be regular updates and expansions to keep the story ongoing and fresh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jhonen Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 it's doomed to fail unless they can fix the ability delay bug. and also they need to move the european servers to frankfurt or paris. dublin? lol. couldnt find anywhere more distant ? even africa would give more decent pings to people who live in eastern europe... I don't think it'll "doom" them. Also, it's an easy thing to fix, give it time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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