Dumbing down of the game, good or bad?

[Monoth]

I've notice there really is no more challenge to SWTOR anymore, I think they took the worst player they could find and dumb down PvE so much that even that person could win. The biggest issue I see is healing, companions are so OP in healing that you never die, no matter what mistakes you make. Same with PvP, healing is so out of control that it can take half the team just to kill a guarded healer (if the healer and tank are fully geared).... What happen to healers only extending the life of team mates? Fully geared healers can make people live forever... I know you want to give healers a chance as people will team up on them but if you reduce the healing capabilities in warzones you could offset it with survivability skills that can keep them from being quickly ganged up on. Maybe just make this abilities only work in warzones so as not to unbalance PvE Healing.

 

Without challenge people will get bored and move on even if you keep giving them 250% xp bonuses.. There's like only two severs that are even populated anymore... I think that tells you right there that Bioware has failed in coming up with unique game play to keep people interested, instead of finding talented people to run the game they have gotten untalented people, people with no imagination or skills, all they've done is dumb down the game and try spend all their time making stuff for the Cartel Market to try and keep the game afloat. BORING....

[Icykill_]

IMO, dumbing down of the game was the second worst decision they've ever made in this game.

[Diefenbaker]

Having played since beta myself, please tell me, when was the game challenging?

 

The only really challenging thing I've ever encountered was when I messed up my dialogue with Jadus and had to fight him, because that guy hit like a truck on one of my baby agents, largely because I was undergeared at that point.

 

But from 1-50 there was nothing truly challenging. Once you understood your class (which didn't take long then, and doesn't take long now) you'd plow through the content either way. It just took a bit longer in vanilla than now, because you had to keep up with your gear.

 

Hutt Cartel? Nope, nothing challenging there, except one or two of the old 4-men heroics. Which you could still 2-men without that much of an issue.

 

And after that there's nothing worth consideration.

 

As for healing. My main is a Inq. I ran with Khem mostly in vanilla. I healed him. He hardly ever died, except when I really messed up. But all the "tough" fights my morose monster tanked and DPSed them all while I kept him up.

 

In reverse, healer comps, like Mako, never really had an issue keeping you up either. On both my BHs Mako healed me through everything, even back in the days.

Edited May 10, 2017 by Diefenbaker

[ivanhedgehog]

I've notice there really is no more challenge to SWTOR anymore, I think they took the worst player they could find and dumb down PvE so much that even that person could win. The biggest issue I see is healing, companions are so OP in healing that you never die, no matter what mistakes you make. Same with PvP, healing is so out of control that it can take half the team just to kill a guarded healer (if the healer and tank are fully geared).... What happen to healers only extending the life of team mates? Fully geared healers can make people live forever... I know you want to give healers a chance as people will team up on them but if you reduce the healing capabilities in warzones you could offset it with survivability skills that can keep them from being quickly ganged up on. Maybe just make this abilities only work in warzones so as not to unbalance PvE Healing.

 

Without challenge people will get bored and move on even if you keep giving them 250% xp bonuses.. There's like only two severs that are even populated anymore... I think that tells you right there that Bioware has failed in coming up with unique game play to keep people interested, instead of finding talented people to run the game they have gotten untalented people, people with no imagination or skills, all they've done is dumb down the game and try spend all their time making stuff for the Cartel Market to try and keep the game afloat. BORING....

People have told you over and over how to give yourself as much challenge as you want, from disabling powers for your comp to not running with a comp. It really isnt that hard to tailor your own experience to the level you wish it. Or is it that you wish to tailor every one elses challenge level for them? Challenge yourself, you can do it if you wish.

[GelstonJ]

People acting like this game was never not easy.

[Icykill_]

People acting like this game was never not easy.

 

It's not that it was extremely difficult, it wasn't, especially for some people who are just naturally good at computer games (which isn't everyone). But you have to admit that the difficulty lvl compared to then has been dumbed down a lot. To the point that even those people who may have found it challenging back then, now find it so easy that it's boring.

My wife is one of those players who isn't a naturally gifted gamer. I often had to group with her so she could get some content done. But now she scoffs at how easy it is and can't believe how dumbed down the game is. She also doesn't play the game much and hasn't even finished all the class stories yet. So it's not that she played so much that she actually got a lot better.

The game is now ridiculously easy.

[saberscreen]

Just saying..

 

I'm rolling with the BAD crowd.

 

..but I think that''s a GOOD thing!

Edited May 10, 2017 by saberscreen

[merovejec]

Fully geared healers can make people live forever... I know you want to give healers a chance as people will team up on them but if you reduce the healing capabilities in warzones you could offset it with survivability skills that can keep them from being quickly ganged up on. Maybe just make this abilities only work in warzones so as not to unbalance PvE Healing.

 

Er, when was the last time you did Master Mode Operations??

[Yezzan]

The game was never "hard." The differences between now and then are:

 

1. Experience points - you level up faster now than you did then; this makes questing a lot easier because you are over-leveled for the quest that you are doing. Back then you had to run FPs and do WZs to get your quest out of the red.

 

2. Gear - it is easier now get gear up than it was then and gear mattered then, plus, also, you had to gear your comp. So, you had to keep your gear up-to-date, as well as, gear your comp, accordingly, in order to manage yellow and orange quests. Now, comp performance is strictly based on influence level and, due to point 1 above, you can do the content without gear, because you are over-leveled anyways, and, but for level-syncing, your quest would have been grey.

 

So the question is void because they did not dumb down the game as you put it. They, simply, increased experience gain and made gear super easy to get, which, inadvertently, make questing easier; as well as, companions not having a gear requirement ( that would be a nightmare with the tons of companions that we HAVE to use with the recent expansions).

 

What they should do is let your difficulty level apply to mobs you encounter in OPW, at the moment it only applies to instances and it seems only the KOTFE and KOTET expansion. I've set my difficulty level to master for new toons but do not see any difference with the storyline instances.

Edited May 10, 2017 by Yezzan

[Aeneas_Falco]

People acting like this game was never not easy.

 

There is a difference between easy and straight up God mode. The 1-50 content now is on God mode. It is literally impossible to die while using a companion. You could leave the computer and T-7 and Khem Val could probably solo Vitiate and Thanaton.

 

That wasn't the case for the first couple years of this game's lifespan. The act and class story end bosses provided at least a moderate challenge, not unlike the Arcann and Vaylin fights from KOTET. It wasn't anything FP or Operations vets would struggle with, but if you were a new player who wasn't an old MMO veteran they were somewhat of a challenge and in order to get past those fights you had to play your class correctly. In some ways they were training wheels for more difficult FP or Operation content.

 

No longer. Ever wonder why you get level 50+ in FPs who don't know what an interrupt or CC is? Nerfed class story content.

[DarthWoad]

Having played since beta myself, please tell me, when was the game challenging?

 

That's probably because youve been playing since beta

[Yezzan]

There is a difference between easy and straight up God mode. The 1-50 content now is on God mode. It is literally impossible to die while using a companion. You could leave the computer and T-7 and Khem Val could probably solo Vitiate and Thanaton.

 

That wasn't the case for the first couple years of this game's lifespan. The act and class story end bosses provided at least a moderate challenge, not unlike the Arcann and Vaylin fights from KOTET. It wasn't anything FP or Operations vets would struggle with, but if you were a new player who wasn't an old MMO veteran they were somewhat of a challenge and in order to get past those fights you had to play your class correctly. In some ways they were training wheels for more difficult FP or Operation content.

 

No longer. Ever wonder why you get level 50+ in FPs who don't know what an interrupt or CC is? Nerfed class story content.

 

yet there are players who complain from ,time to time that they cannot stay alive or have to be regening HP after fights. I literally had to post a video of my toon doing heroics in no gear because someone was threatening to quit cause he was dying too often even with a companion.

 

You can always create your own challenge. Go F2P for class stories and avoid FPs and WZ and dont use a companion; problem solved. thoug if you are a veteran player you shouldn't be complaining about stater planets cause you should be doing NiM ops and Uprisings.

[TUXs]

I've notice there really is no more challenge to SWTOR anymore, I think they took the worst player they could find and dumb down PvE so much that even that person could win.

 

Without challenge people will get bored and move on even if you keep giving them 250% xp bonuses. BORING....

The good of level sync far outweighs the bad. The problem is you...you're looking for a "challenge" without actually looking for one. Dismiss your companion, put them on passive, disable some of their skills...you're whining about LEVELING fluff content, which has NEVER been "challenging" - and should NOT be. You want a challenge? Do group activities without a group. Try a FP with 2 players. PvP. Try an Uprising with 2. Instead of looking to make the casual story crap harder, break out of your solo only mindset and try the content that's meant to be challenging.

[RagnarAugustus]

People have told you over and over how to give yourself as much challenge as you want, from disabling powers for your comp to not running with a comp. It really isnt that hard to tailor your own experience to the level you wish it. Or is it that you wish to tailor every one elses challenge level for them? Challenge yourself, you can do it if you wish.

 

Exactly, it's like the people whining about the game being "too easy" aren't disciplined enough not to take advantage of the very things that they complain about and want "Mama Bioware" to force them to play a more difficult version of the game by removing those features from the game. News flash, Bioware won't remove those things because they want SWTOR to be "accessible" to the masses and not just to the hard core MMO players. I miss when Story Mode Ops had actual mechanics which helped train you for hard mode ops, but that was removed too in the name of accessibility. So what do we do now, we run hard mode Ops as soon as we are geared enough. As you put it so well, it's all about adapting your play style to the game in order to get your desired gaming experience, it's not up to Bioware to force you to play in the way that you want..

[JediQuaker]

Dumbing down of the game, good or bad?

It's bad for those who want a challenge, but good for those who don't.

 

The important thing, from BW's perspective, is, which gets the most subscribers.

Edited May 10, 2017 by JediQuaker

[Andryah]

People acting like this game was never not easy.

 

^^ Yep.

 

Followed by people pretending that they have no control over their play experience. They can literally do a host different and simple things to make their game play easier or harder... depending on what they want. Instead, they whine and play victim.

[Andryah]

exactly, it's like the people whining about the game being "too easy" aren't disciplined enough not to take advantage of the very things that they complain about and want "mama bioware" to force them to play a more difficult version of the game by removing those features from the game. News flash, bioware won't remove those things because they want swtor to be "accessible" to the masses and not just to the hard core mmo players. I miss when story mode ops had actual mechanics which helped train you for hard mode ops, but that was removed too in the name of accessibility. So what do we do now, we run hard mode ops as soon as we are geared enough. As you put it so well, it's all about adapting your play style to the game in order to get your desired gaming experience, it's not up to bioware to force you to play in the way that you want..

 

^^ +1

[WelbyWars]

It's basically Star Wars canon at this point. BW's hands are tied by lawyers.

The precedent has been set,..if Jar Jar can enter a Naboo Warzone and win and a little anakin can join GSF and take objectives then well,..there you go.

 

:):cool:

Edited May 10, 2017 by WelbyWars

[DarthSpuds]

The fact most of us can solo H2+ with our eyes closed is surely more than enough evidence that the game is too easy.

 

Up the difficulty a bit, see that does, and when it gets to the point that H2+ is a challenge solo, up it a bit more.

 

I solo 90% of the time and I think the game is too easy.

 

All The Best

[RaiderMid]

The game is story driven in my opinion. I don't see the problem with having that part of the game be easy. You can cripple yourself to provide challenge is you so choose to. Run without a comp, ect.

[masterceil]

The fact most of us can solo H2+ with our eyes closed is surely more than enough evidence that the game is too easy.

 

Up the difficulty a bit, see that does, and when it gets to the point that H2+ is a challenge solo, up it a bit more.

 

I solo 90% of the time and I think the game is too easy.

 

All The Best

 

So run them naked, with no companion. Using legacy punches. With RP walk mode on.

 

You can make the game more difficult. Don't take the simpleness away from those that just want to breeze through the solo content.

[BenduKundalini]

Dumbldor cant be bad your wrong noob

[casirabit]

I guess you haven't read how hard some of the KoTFE chapters are. I have heard complaints how hard it is to:

 

Defeat the Overwatched hunters (the chapter where you get Kayilo) and

 

Defeating Vaylin's spirit is impossible (the last chapter)

 

 

Note: Which by the way I disagree with. It can be done but it requires you to pay attention to the mechanics. I have done them a few times.

Edited May 10, 2017 by casirabit

[Soljin]

Yeah I have to agree... If you feel the game is easy turn your companion to DPS or disable a few abilities... You can basically tailor the difficulty in this game and that is really nice.

 

Risk vs. Reward is totally off in this game sure... But being able to adjust difficulty via your companion abilities is a nice feature... Not something I would complain about.

[Damask_Rose]

I don't think it is healthy for the game to be so easy that there is a steady stream of new threads by new and returning players dismayed by how easy it is. (Yes, the game was easy at launch, but 4.0 made it much, much easier.) It is off-putting to new players. Most of the people who seem to like this state of affairs are old timers who just want to make their next 70 as quickly as humanly possible, but are too cheap to pony up for an instant 65 token.

 

I think it is a sign of very bad design that the most frequent advice given to new players is not how to gear properly, but to not use gear at all. To not use their companions. To not do any flashpoints or warzones until they are capped. To not do any of the many great planet arcs or side quests. To not subscribe.