Let us turn off Dark vs. Light alerts.

[Clarian]

I only have a few days left to be able to post, so...this is my last chance.

 

Please give us an option to turn off the Dark vs. Light alerts.

 

The crown jewel of this game is story, and by 'story' I don't mean just cut-scenes - I mean story as it's delivered in a video game, which includes exploration, battles, reading the codex, etc.

 

The alerts distract from all of this. They take you out of the story. As alerts, they were designed to divert your attention, and they do. But they do it for something that has absolutely nothing to do with the story. They break the experience. They're intrusive and obnoxious.

 

The aggravation of them goes beyond just the alerts themselves. It's also in knowing that the developers of the game themselves are deliberately tarnishing the experience of the original content. Knowing that this game, one of the greatest story achievements in the history of the medium, is in the hands of people who apparently don't care about the story experience or the core of the game they're stewarding.

 

As such, I find the idea of continuing to pay to support the game in this state to be intolerable. I've been subscribed most of the time since launch, and I tend to buy $100 worth of coins during the months when I'm engaged with the game. But I haven't made any cash purchases since 5.0, because I haven't been playing the game. I could spend YEARS more on just the class stories alone - I've never finished a class story even with my original characters, and I have a set or two of alts I'd like to run them with too. But, I have no plans to ever play again (let alone subscribe) unless I can do so with no alerts.

 

That said, I hope the game stays around for years and years, and even decades, to come...if only because the longer it's around, the more chance there is that an option to turn off the alerts will be added. The new story content the last couple years has been, from what I've seen of it, very disappointing, but that doesn't matter - the original story content is more than awesome enough to justify the continued availability of the game. If the servers ever go down for good, I hope the class stories would somehow be made available in offline form.

 

The recent leadership change gives me some hope that an option to run off the alerts might happen. If so, I'll likely be back.

[HuaRya]

You can simply click the X at that top right of the window and then it's gone.

 

Please focus your complaint to the Conquest Who OWNS the the Planet ginormous window as that one is not as easily turned off. The only work around to that is hitting CTRL U twice and that can be messy.

[Jagaimee]

Yes, PLEASE. I despise the Dark vs. Light popups - especially when one side "wins" and there's a sudden, very loud (no matter how much I've turned down my sound) blare of music. I've turned down the music settings entirely - and that music still plays. Short of turning off all sound everywhere in-game, I can't do a thing about it.

 

At least they don't pop up in cutscenes... I think. I haven't been able to verify that; I've never experienced them popping up in cutscenes, but I've heard a few other people say they do... can someone clarify this? Do they really pop up in cutscenes? Because that is absolutely intolerable. Reuniting with a loved companion (Torian, Vette, Quinn, etc.) shouldn't be interrupted by DUH DUH DUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, cue the dark vs. light popup slapped over the characters' foreheads in the middle of a kiss. >_<

 

Even just running around in the open world, the popups are incredibly jarring - and essentially useless unless you're a) at level 70, and b) are attempting to get a group together for a light/dark boss as soon as one side wins. If you're doing Galactic Command, all you have to do is click the GC interface to find out which side is "in control" or leaning that way. No need for the popups!

 

Please, please give us an option to disable them altogether! Not just the incremental "the dark/light side grows stronger" notices, but the incredibly annoying fanfare, the announcement of which side "wins," the whole nine yards. Don't take it away permanently - just give us the option to turn it off! That way, people who want the notices to keep popping up will do so, and the people who can't stand the darn thing won't have to deal with it.

[Clarian]

You can simply click the X at that top right of the window and then it's gone.

That doesn't address what I was talking about (you may not have read the whole post). Once there's an X there, it means the damage has already been done - the alert has already gone off, which means you've already been taken out of the story, etc., and even moreso if you have to click on something.

 

But, if anyone does know of a way to actually disable the alerts from popping up in the first place, I'd love to hear it. I've seen the subject brought up a few times, here and on reddit, and to my knowledge no one has discovered a way to block them.

[Rion_Starkiller]

Your stuff can I have?

--Yoda

[Mongorr]

It's a pity they didn't just add this to the interface frames with this patch, so you could disable it. That popup is extremely annoying.

[Clarian]

Your stuff can I have?

--Yoda

When the servers shut off permanently and the game is gone, and no one will ever be able to log in again - and there's still no option to turn off the alerts...then I might consider giving someone my stuff.

 

Until then, there's always hope that they'll add the option to turn them off.

 

Even if Bioware posted here and swore an oath that they would never add that option...they could change their minds the next day.

[CaveBeast]

Yeah, for something that is as universally despised in the game, I don't know why they refuse to address it. I have yet to hear a single person (maybe such a monstrous being is out there somewhere) say that they actually like the DvL popup and obnoxious blaring that comes with it. It needs to be selectable in the UI along with the majority of other on-screen items.

[Edyn]

I know I can turn each and every one of those garish notifications off by clicking on the X every time they pop up. The thing is, I hate being distracted by them in the first place. Bottom line is, I absolutely do not care about the "DvL war," whatever the **** that is and how it applies to SWTOR story immersion. Please allow us the option to hide everything that has to do with it - I really don't like my SWTOR MMORPG feeling like a FPS capture the flag match.

 

Thanks!

Edited April 20, 2017 by Edyn

[dr_mike]

I don't know why they refuse to address it.

 

Skim the dev tracker. They rarely address anything here and they have explained why many many times.

[CaveBeast]

Skim the dev tracker. They rarely address anything here and they have explained why many many times.

 

Did I ask for a dev to specifically address this in my post? No. I wasn't asking them to address it here, merely giving voice to a widely held sentiment. And without voicing such sentiments, how would they know what is disliked and what is liked? They clearly draw information from these forums so this is the appropriate place to voice such displeasure obviously.

[dr_mike]

Did I ask for a dev to specifically address this in my post?

 

Yeah, for something that is as universally despised in the game, I don't know why they refuse to address it.

 

To me that implied a member of staff. If you didn't mean such, maybe using a specific reference instead of a pronoun would have worked better.

 

All I meant was to state that staff rarely responds here on the forums, a much known fact if you spend a few days here on the forums. In fact someone noticed yesterday that staff members have responded to more posts within the last few days than since the beginning of the year. edit: And I see that post got deleted.

 

Sorry if you misunderstood. No need to be rude to your fellow player trying to help out here.

[CaveBeast]

To me that implied a member of staff. If you didn't mean such, maybe using a specific reference instead of a pronoun would have worked better.

 

All I meant was to state that staff rarely responds here on the forums, a much known fact if you spend a few days here on the forums. In fact someone noticed yesterday that staff members have responded to more posts within the last few days than since the beginning of the year. edit: And I see that post got deleted.

 

Sorry if you misunderstood. No need to be rude to your fellow player trying to help out here.

 

I didn't misunderstand, but you clearly misunderstood my voicing of opinion as if it were a specific request of the devs. And I have been on the forums since launch so yeah I know generally where and how they respond to items. Thanks for your helping out a fellow player...

Edited April 20, 2017 by CaveBeast

[Rankyn]

I like the DvL popup but I wish it was a little less intrusive and was better incorporated into the UI instead of being a floating element in the middle of the screen.

 

Given the nature of its shape, surely it could have been made to fit around the top button bar somehow.

If it was more aesthetically pleasing, I wouldn't even mind if it were a constant element.

[Kyrrant]

I'd want it added to the UI Interface, not so I can turn it off, but just so I can make it smaller and put it in a less obstrusive location. Hell, I might want an option to keep it on all the time, just for reference and so the flashing pop up doesn't distract.

[Clarian]

I like the DvL popup but I wish it was a little less intrusive and was better incorporated into the UI instead of being a floating element in the middle of the screen.

 

Given the nature of its shape, surely it could have been made to fit around the top button bar somehow.

If it was more aesthetically pleasing, I wouldn't even mind if it were a constant element.

I'd want it added to the UI Interface, not so I can turn it off, but just so I can make it smaller and put it in a less obstrusive location. Hell, I might want an option to keep it on all the time, just for reference and so the flashing pop up doesn't distract.

Yeah, integrating it into the UI would probably be ideal, because that would provide the most options. (For me, turning it off...as long as that disabled the noise it makes also.)

[MikeCobalt]

Yes I wish they would allow the ability to turn those off. Every time it comes up I have to stop what I'm doing to turn that off and be able to actually see what I'm doing. Another reason is not everybody cares about that but they have to stop for a moment to close that window as well. Really frustrating.

[Clarian]

I really don't like my SWTOR MMORPG feeling like a FPS capture the flag match.

That's a very good way to put it!

Bottom line is, I absolutely do not care about the "DvL war," whatever the **** that is and how it applies to SWTOR story immersion.

Exactly...there's no story rationale whatsoever behind the whole DvL thing. It really doesn't fit with classic SWTOR, where they took pains to put some kind of 'story' spin on pretty much everything. ...Still, I wouldn't object to it as long as I could opt out of it.

[Clarian]

It's a pity they didn't just add this to the interface frames with this patch, so you could disable it. That popup is extremely annoying.

Yeah, that's something else I meant to mention - I would hope it wouldn't require a huge development effort to add some kind of toggle for it. That really should have been included from the start, but...much better late than never. It really doesn't seem like too much to ask.

[CheesyEZ]

*bump*

 

I don't care about immersion at all, really. but those alerts are quite annoying and, honestly, feel like an invasion of privacy or something.

 

is there still no way to disable them? haven't been able to find them in the layout editor.