Makeb taxi rides

[Ninalore]

I am so dissapointed that there are no cut scenes when using a taxi in Makeb The same goes for the rest of the expansion, I love those taxi scenery rides but I quess I am one of the few who actually enjoy these.

[Ralei]

I personally enjoy it when my companion falls out of the taxi and dies.

[Ninalore]

I personally enjoy it when my companion falls out of the taxi and dies.

 

 

Yes that happened a few times to me too, It made my Sith giggle

Edited August 24, 2016 by Ninalore

[Warrgames]

Personal I am glad for the Makeb Taxi. I hate the time sink of sitting there doing nothing.

[MadDutchman]

I too enjoyed the taxis, although I think the best option is to make it an option in settings. It's not like there is any advantage to speeding through the planets or doing them slowly.

[Nothing_Shines]

The devs were never able to figure out how to fix the flickering taxi issue on large maps...so they removed them from the equation. All the post vanilla content: Makeb, Oricon, Rishi, Yavin 4, Ziost, Zakuul, etc. - all have no or only partial (take-off and landing) taxi transition animations for this reason (and maybe people complaining of graphical chugging/pop-in during the long transitions). Edited August 24, 2016 by Nothing_Shines

[Rankyn]

There is literally no scenery to see on those taxi rides.

When it fades to black, it's doing it because the game has to "physically" relocate you across a large gap of un-rendered world.

If it didn't, you'd just see yourself zip across the void.

[SteveTheCynic]

I personally enjoy it when my companion falls out of the taxi and dies.

I haven't seen that on a *taxi* (I see no trace of my companion in taxis), but I have seen it with Quick Travel, where there's a scream of pain during the black-out phase, and when I arrive at the destination QT point, my companion is dead of falling. (So far, I've seen it twice, once on a Trooper on Makeb with Lana, once on a Trooper (a different Trooper, but both female Gunnery Commandos) on Alderaan with Aric. No, wait, I think one of my Smugglers had to scrape Corso off the floor of the Senate Tower on Coruscant.)

[BenduKundalini]

I haven't seen that on a *taxi* (I see no trace of my companion in taxis), but I have seen it with Quick Travel, where there's a scream of pain during the black-out phase, and when I arrive at the destination QT point, my companion is dead of falling. (So far, I've seen it twice, once on a Trooper on Makeb with Lana, once on a Trooper (a different Trooper, but both female Gunnery Commandos) on Alderaan with Aric. No, wait, I think one of my Smugglers had to scrape Corso off the floor of the Senate Tower on Coruscant.)

 

lol!

[SteveTheCynic]

lol!

The best part is the chat log messages, which make it clear that falling does NOT kill people in this game.

 

You see two messages when this happens (or if you jump off a too-high place). Example below for Lana accompanying Kylath:

 

Lana Beniko defeated Kylath's companion using "Take Fall" for 0 damage.

Lana Beniko was defeated by Kylath's companion using "Take Fall" for 0 damage.

 

So in fact, someone who falls from a great height (or even a small height when heavily wounded(1)) kills themselves and is simultaneously killed by themselves using a fall. It is impossible to *just* die. You are always killed *by* someone using some effect or other.

 

(1) As, for example, when a BH commits suicide inside his own ship by repeatedly throwing himself from the really tall spot at the back.

[SFDebris]

Personal I am glad for the Makeb Taxi. I hate the time sink of sitting there doing nothing.

 

Hell yes, the amount of time taxis waste is absurd. If the PVP queue can pop during the trip and expire before you reach the destination, I think we can agree it's a shameless time sink.

[AlrikFassbauer]

Why not use Quick Travel, then ?

[Rolodome]

There is literally no scenery to see on those taxi rides.

When it fades to black, it's doing it because the game has to "physically" relocate you across a large gap of un-rendered world.

If it didn't, you'd just see yourself zip across the void.

That's what I've always assumed. That they did it to save on rendering and designing parts of the map that you can't even travel to.

 

I haven't seen that on a *taxi* (I see no trace of my companion in taxis), but I have seen it with Quick Travel, where there's a scream of pain during the black-out phase, and when I arrive at the destination QT point, my companion is dead of falling. (So far, I've seen it twice, once on a Trooper on Makeb with Lana, once on a Trooper (a different Trooper, but both female Gunnery Commandos) on Alderaan with Aric. No, wait, I think one of my Smugglers had to scrape Corso off the floor of the Senate Tower on Coruscant.)

Clearly, your companion needs to work on their disapparating spell.

[TUXs]

Personal I am glad for the Makeb Taxi. I hate the time sink of sitting there doing nothing.

I gotta agree. After finishing Coruscant on a new Sage last night, I yearn for Makeb style taxis. I'm also fond of the Ops speeders that cut to black and spawn you where you need to be vs. TFB's 30min ride back to Kephass.

[Nempo]

Do any of you remember Beta? Our companions used to jump on the taxi's with us. The two seater large taxis still have a second seat specifically for them. The large circle in the back is where droids would be sitting such as those unable to reasonably climb into the seat like T7.

For speeder bikes they sat behind you and held on, which did look kind of funny for T7 but it was a nice gesture that showed companions as meaning more.

[SFDebris]

Why not use Quick Travel, then ?

 

Fixes to quick travel have helped, but after the first years of the game (when QT cooldowns were so long that they had to be used sparingly) I have been conditioned to loath taxi rides, and still detest that Coruscant and Nar Shadaa don't show you where you need to go on the map so you can just QT directly there. And that doesn't include other things that need to go like the elevators that like time and tide wait for no man, which exist just to suck up your time and yet keep coming back.

 

Extra Credits had the guts to condemn this whole philosophy:

[Ralei]

Do any of you remember Beta? Our companions used to jump on the taxi's with us. The two seater large taxis still have a second seat specifically for them. The large circle in the back is where droids would be sitting such as those unable to reasonably climb into the seat like T7.

For speeder bikes they sat behind you and held on, which did look kind of funny for T7 but it was a nice gesture that showed companions as meaning more.

 

I don't remember that! That sounds really cool!

[Rolodome]

Fixes to quick travel have helped, but after the first years of the game (when QT cooldowns were so long that they had to be used sparingly) I have been conditioned to loath taxi rides, and still detest that Coruscant and Nar Shadaa don't show you where you need to go on the map so you can just QT directly there. And that doesn't include other things that need to go like the elevators that like time and tide wait for no man, which exist just to suck up your time and yet keep coming back.

 

Extra Credits had the guts to condemn this whole philosophy:

I have mixed feelings about the philosophy. On the one hand, I like being able to get around efficiently in games.

 

On the other hand, I think of SWG pre-CU in the really early days, when shuttles took like an hour to show up and there were no mounts and huge planets, so you could spend 20 or 30 minutes just going out from an outpost into the jungle to do some special quest.

 

And the thing that I feel was valuable about pre-CU's system that modern systems lack is the following:

 

1) It went all the way, no holds barred. Meaning that, the pacing was consistent. You didn't have a quick travel that could be instant, but then most of the time you're walking. It was all slow, so there was no jolt in contrast. That was just how the game was played.

 

2) It made the world feel like an actual virtual world (among other reasons). It's debatable whether an actual virtual world is healthy for us as human beings, but I know there are people (myself among them) who cherish memories of pre-CU SWG to this day because they were so deeply drawn into that world.

 

The issue I've seen with the typical modern system is that there are sometimes efforts to get people walking or running long distances (or in SWTOR's case, waiting for elevators) but they don't commit to it. It's this one-off experience, in an otherwise fast-paced game, and you really notice because it disrupts the flow. One minute you're speeding along and the next you feel like a snail.

 

It's sort of like pacing in a movie. Like if you were watching an action-packed Jason Bourne or James Bond film and then suddenly it turns into a more contemplative Les Miserables or something.

 

I also find that in my own experience, part of the reason it's jarring is because I got conditioned to play in a fast-paced manner from fast-paced games. Some of the same ones that have jarringly slow moments. I think if I were to log into classic pre-CU today, I would do a lot of just wandering... and once I got into the rhythm of it, I wouldn't care much about the speed because it'd be on one setting and I'd get used to that speed setting.

 

When the speed setting goes up and down abruptly, that messes with peoples' heads.

[SFDebris]

I have mixed feelings about the philosophy. On the one hand, I like being able to get around efficiently in games.

 

On the other hand, I think of SWG pre-CU in the really early days, when shuttles took like an hour to show up and there were no mounts and huge planets, so you could spend 20 or 30 minutes just going out from an outpost into the jungle to do some special quest.

 

And the thing that I feel was valuable about pre-CU's system that modern systems lack is the following:

 

1) It went all the way, no holds barred. Meaning that, the pacing was consistent. You didn't have a quick travel that could be instant, but then most of the time you're walking. It was all slow, so there was no jolt in contrast. That was just how the game was played.

 

2) It made the world feel like an actual virtual world (among other reasons). It's debatable whether an actual virtual world is healthy for us as human beings, but I know there are people (myself among them) who cherish memories of pre-CU SWG to this day because they were so deeply drawn into that world.

 

The issue I've seen with the typical modern system is that there are sometimes efforts to get people walking or running long distances (or in SWTOR's case, waiting for elevators) but they don't commit to it. It's this one-off experience, in an otherwise fast-paced game, and you really notice because it disrupts the flow. One minute you're speeding along and the next you feel like a snail.

 

It's sort of like pacing in a movie. Like if you were watching an action-packed Jason Bourne or James Bond film and then suddenly it turns into a more contemplative Les Miserables or something.

 

I also find that in my own experience, part of the reason it's jarring is because I got conditioned to play in a fast-paced manner from fast-paced games. Some of the same ones that have jarringly slow moments. I think if I were to log into classic pre-CU today, I would do a lot of just wandering... and once I got into the rhythm of it, I wouldn't care much about the speed because it'd be on one setting and I'd get used to that speed setting.

 

When the speed setting goes up and down abruptly, that messes with peoples' heads.

 

I think we might be in agreement but just presenting it in different ways. What it comes down to isn't that it takes time, it's that it WASTES time. The worst way to slow things down is to make forward progress impossible simply to eat up time, the elevators being the worst offender. Your trips through the game world were enjoyable to you because the experience was its own reward, so even though it took up your time, it wasn't wasting your time.

 

So with that philosophy, it should be that in such situations:

A) if something is felt to be needed to provide a momentary bit of downtime for pacing purposes, that downtime should be worthwhile in its own right.

B) The player should have the option to control the pacing to some degree

 

So, for instance, taxis could show you the entire path, or the player can at any time hit the spacebar and arrive at the destination. In that case, both players get what they want, and even though they take different lengths of time to get there, no one's time is wasted. Likewise, as I said in the KOTFE combat discussion, more alternate activities to bypass trash mobs under player control to reward movement over goals, while still leaving hem the option to curbstomp these mobs if they enjoy that. Respecting the players' time should mean that as much of the time spent playing the game as possible can be enjoyed.

[Viperswhip]

I like the taxis, I'd hate them if I had to do anything, but for now, I like panning the camera around and looking at things, I often take a taxi instead of using quick travel even, just for that reason.

[Rolodome]

I think we might be in agreement but just presenting it in different ways. What it comes down to isn't that it takes time, it's that it WASTES time. The worst way to slow things down is to make forward progress impossible simply to eat up time, the elevators being the worst offender. Your trips through the game world were enjoyable to you because the experience was its own reward, so even though it took up your time, it wasn't wasting your time.

 

So with that philosophy, it should be that in such situations:

A) if something is felt to be needed to provide a momentary bit of downtime for pacing purposes, that downtime should be worthwhile in its own right.

B) The player should have the option to control the pacing to some degree

 

So, for instance, taxis could show you the entire path, or the player can at any time hit the spacebar and arrive at the destination. In that case, both players get what they want, and even though they take different lengths of time to get there, no one's time is wasted. Likewise, as I said in the KOTFE combat discussion, more alternate activities to bypass trash mobs under player control to reward movement over goals, while still leaving hem the option to curbstomp these mobs if they enjoy that. Respecting the players' time should mean that as much of the time spent playing the game as possible can be enjoyed.

I can agree with that. ^^

 

Regarding KOTFE, that reminds me... delicately avoiding trash mob packs is one of the fun things I enjoy doing in MMOs when I don't feel like fighting everything. It really is a skill in itself and it can be rewarding. That's one of the reasons I don't like mobs that spawn on you and force you into combat, no matter what.

[ZanyaCross]

Lot of truth in this thread. One of the best moves I made in this game was rolling a scoundrel for the DvL event, just so I could breeze past most of the mobs. Ran Battle for Illum and False Emperor in less than an hour between both. Only wish there was a way to solo the Czerka FPs too so I could stealth-cheese those.

 

Extra Credits had the guts to condemn this whole philosophy:

 

Wish I could upvote just for the EC reference. More devs really need to marathon that whole series, like, bad.

Edited August 26, 2016 by ZanyaCross