What do you think were missed opportunities for Swtor?

[Floplag]

I agree with everything in your list except number 1.

 

While the engine gets a lot of flack from players... largely due to the poor implementation all the way back to Illum at launch... I also see that players fail to realize this is basically a custom studio developed engine, which used an early alpha release of Hero as it's starting foundation. They have in fact done a lot of performance improvements on the engine over the years, and there are few actual real engine derived issues these days. Yes. the particular approach will always make said engine prone to FPS fluctuations (and that bothers some players immensely), but for an MMO and a moderately good PCs.... it really is not noticeable in most cases unless the player is fixated on fluctuation free FPS and high FPS (which is not realistic, even for WoW). The only real persistent fault I see in the engine is the artifact of it being very processor intensive, and hence not using higher end GPUs efficiently and to maximum effect.

 

I would add one key missed opportunity to your list:

The failure to expand game content, and even alternate rule sets via introduction of new planets on a regular basis. And I mean real planets... not snippets as we typically have seen for the last several years. With real planet additions, you could for example make special rule sets that are specific for that planet... like a planet that is simply sandbox (for the sandbox lovers), or a planet that is specifically designed for open world PvP in a manner that avoids the mistakes of Illum, or a planet that is a crafters paradise of resources and unique recipes for design, or a Role Play centric planet, or how about a retro planet that offers a lot of the old unstructured style of SWG, etc. etc. etc. The natural break points in content that a planet offers is a huge missed opportunity to cater to special interests in a manner that does not destroy the other foundations of the game. If I were leading development for SWTOR, I would make all content expansion (being a big patch, or a full on expac) planetary focused, which would allow me to have specific dev teams working on each planet and to a particular "interest goal" of said planet. I would have sold this hard with upper management as a way to progress content in a manner that is modular, serves special interest groups that are of notable size, and be able to retain older content "as is" for the nostalgic by not stomping all over every feature or rule already in the game in order to make something that expands the content in a new direction (like sandbox, or ranked competitive PvP on a planetary scale). A true planet based approach to content progression would provide an actual way to expand the player base and retain more veteran players. But I also think this kind of opportunity went into sunset a long time ago.

 

Fpr me the engine is #1 without question, it simply cannot handle as much on screen as it should.

Too many people the game becomes almost unplayable.

DSync in PvP is a killer.

Its too CPU dependent over GPU

I got it at launch, but for these issues to still be there today is inexcusable.

[SithKoriandr]

Classes being able to use a bigger variety of weapons.

 

Stick with keeping KotET/FE longer.

 

Spreading the facial tattoos and scars around more.

 

Cybernetics should have just been a facial option and never a class.

 

Hood up and down.

 

If chest armor is going to have flaps that clip, they need versions with out the waist flaps.

 

All species should've been available for all classes from the beginning.

 

SSR

 

Items should've all been moddable from the beginning.

[AlrikFassbauer]

Missed opportunities ?

 

- Let Darth Malguds live longer.

- Not translating the game insto Spanish language.

[MikeCobalt]

1, Missed the chance to kill Arcann; the most deserving person in the galaxy. Now he sleeps in a warm bed in a much better life then most in the galaxy. Surrounded by the Alliance (Hating him )protecting him from every sentient being that wants to avenge the *Trillions of mothers, fathers, sons, daughters and others that he killed, not only through his lust for power, also revenge. The most despicable person in the galaxy. The Segment on Odessan to resolve all that within his first introductory sentence he used the word "Conqueror". I don't remember an apology. He lives only for his mothers efforts. Is that indicative of somebody that appreciates what they have?

 

2, Missed the chance to Prevent the "Sith Inquisitor" from doing a galactic face plant infront of the galaxy to the weakest member. What a horrible segement to one of the fullest, most liked characters in the game.

 

3, Missed the opportunity to experience stories written and conducted even remotely close in substance and fulfillment to earlier SWTOR content. Good Job for choosing the cheapest assets available:).

 

4. Missed the opportunity for meaningful companion reunions, Something that shouldn't have lasted past the 4th or 5th Chapter at most ( However that fiasco did give the members the ability to experience multiple lies, ignored questions and vague mentions about the Companion issue).

 

5, Missed the opportunity to get really anything "Post Original Chapters" from either the personal ships, strongholds or guild ships. As SWTOR continues to downsize the personal ships have nearly been pushed off the table altogether. The Decorations although lately some improvements still not what they originally were intended.

 

6, SWTOR Missed the opportunity to have a "BackBone" to the E.A. BeanCounters and stand up for a game truly unique that offered *More then a 5 brain cell "Run, Click, Shoot" type game for which there are thousands already.

Edited July 19, 2018 by MikeCobalt

[FlameYOL]

1, Missed the chance to kill Arcann; the most deserving person in the galaxy. Now he sleeps in a warm bed in a much better life then most in the galaxy. Surrounded by the Alliance (Hating him )protecting him from every sentient being that wants to avenge the *Trillions of mothers, fathers, sons, daughters and others that he killed, not only through his lust for power, also revenge. The most despicable person in the galaxy. The Segment on Odessan to resolve all that within his first introductory sentence he used the word "Conqueror". I don't remember an apology. He lives only for his mothers efforts. Is that indicative of somebody that appreciates what they have?

 

2, Missed the chance to Prevent the "Sith Inquisitor" from doing a galactic face plant infront of the galaxy to the weakest member. What a horrible segement to one of the fullest, most liked characters in the game.

 

3, Missed the opportunity to experience stories written and conducted even remotely close in substance and fulfillment to earlier SWTOR content. Good Job for choosing the cheapest assets available:).

 

4. Missed the opportunity for meaningful companion reunions, Something that shouldn't have lasted past the 4th or 5th Chapter at most ( However that fiasco did give the members the ability to experience multiple lies, ignored questions and vague mentions about the Companion issue).

 

5, Missed the opportunity to get really anything "Post Original Chapters" from either the personal ships, strongholds or guild ships. As SWTOR continues to downsize the personal ships have nearly been pushed off the table altogether. The Decorations although lately some improvements still not what they originally were intended.

 

6, SWTOR Missed the opportunity to have a "BackBone" to the E.A. BeanCounters and stand up for a game truly unique that offered *More then a 5 brain cell "Run, Click, Shoot" type game for which there are thousands already.

 

Well... you can kill Arcann though.

[Tsillah]

- Let Darth Malguds live longer..

In SWTOR nobody really dies. Ask Revan and Kephess for example. Chances are he's still alive somewhere.

[Eksenia]

Three things in order of importance:

 

SPACE - with mining, free flight, neutral space stations. SW:G did it perfectly.

 

Customizaton - Why are certain classes locked to certain weapons? I want my 1h lightsaber sin and 1 pistol merc, ffs!

 

Environments - Yeah. The main hubs are dark and dreary. There's no sunlight or beautiful scenery in any place you actually spend time in. Hanging about in the main hub (fleet) would be hella lot better if it was actually, you know, pleasant. Compare with games like WoW, AoC, LOTRO - or whatever the kids play these days - where the main hubs are a) pretty and b) feel alive.

[devilkat]

No true open world. They did well with the planets that they made, but it would have been much cooler to have a true open world feel to the game (eg, Skyrimesque with NPCs who actually wonder around and interact with the environment, day/night changes, no real linear sequence to missions, etc).

 

Instead of having us start as someone already fairly powerful, let us start from scratch and improve our abilities as we progress (again, like Skyrim). Smugglers get to sneak around, and if your skill isn't high enough, you get caught. Jedi and Sith have to figure out how to use their lightsabers and force abilities, we don't just know how, etc.

 

More factions. I'd have liked to create a character like Kira. A force sensitive who didn't know they were and joined up with a gang to survive, etc.

 

Making the traitor story arc make sense. I have a feeling that the writers wrote a good story, but they were forced to pare it down to fit a budget, and it didn't work well.

 

A good explanation of what happened to the other classes after their stories were over. The whole thing started getting condensed down on Ilum and if finished with the Outlander. Mentioning them "disappearing" doesn't work for all.

[FlameYOL]

A good explanation of what happened to the other classes after their stories were over. The whole thing started getting condensed down on Ilum and if finished with the Outlander. Mentioning them "disappearing" doesn't work for all.

 

I disagree with you there, this is a similar situation as to Revan and The Jedi Exile in KOTOR. If they make a canonical statement players will definitely get angry at it. I think it is up to us to make our own headcanons as to what happened to our character.

[AureliaSulis]

Being able to interact with furniture and the environment in general - sit on a chair, lie down on a bed, lean up against a bar or wall. Small stuff like that which helps with roleplay.

[TonyTricicolo]

If they don't add a suitable building, like the Blaster's Path cantina structure, to the Rishi Stronghold then this right here will be the biggest missed opportunity to date.

[DuchessKristania]

If they don't add a suitable building, like the Blaster's Path cantina structure, to the Rishi Stronghold then this right here will be the biggest missed opportunity to date.

 

I'd definitely put it in the top ten of missed opportunities. The devs seem to be blatantly ignoring the subject of a better building.

[xordevoreaux]

Free roaming space and the ability to decorate your ships and maybe even have a personal capital ship as a stronghold

 

Day/night cycle and more free roaming planets.

 

Sand, dust, fog and weather on planets. The deserts of Tatooine feel stale. Some sand movement and audio would go a long way to feel more immersive. A low lying fog on Taris would be more creepy and immersive.

 

Dantooine, Kashyykk and Onderon have still not appeared. They exist and they played a part in KOTOR.

 

Dark side and light side abilities. A dark side Jedi should be able to use abilities like force choke and just have them on the same timer as the mirror ability.

 

On pub side on Tat and on Darvanis there is sand blowing in the wind, but as an effect, it doesn't react to the environment, it's just a pre-set Directx9 "particle" effect. True particle physics for smoke / blowing sand / etc. would be nice but for all the other things this game needs I'd be the first to say put that on the back burner.

Edited July 20, 2018 by xordevoreaux

[MikeCobalt]

Well... you can kill Arcann though.

 

Yes, *Recently* I've seen that. I missed it in my play through. Must've been like the line to kill the instructor on Korriban for the Sith Inquisitor, an Important facet poorly introduced enough that most missed it. I only ran through the Zakuul story once and wont do that again.

[AshenK]

Really they should have just made TOR into a SWG Pre-CU 2. That's what people wanted.

 

Add in they never should have wasted two years on story content. Going forward should have always been new flashpoints and raids.

[xordevoreaux]

Really they should have just made TOR into a SWG Pre-CU 2. That's what people wanted.

 

Add in they never should have wasted two years on story content. Going forward should have always been new flashpoints and raids.

 

I always like the story stuff. It differentiates this game from so many others.

[FlameYOL]

Yes, *Recently* I've seen that. I missed it in my play through. Must've been like the line to kill the instructor on Korriban for the Sith Inquisitor, an Important facet poorly introduced enough that most missed it. I only ran through the Zakuul story once and wont do that again.

 

Well... that's on you, no offense. Not on the devs, the path to kill Arcann is pretty obvious

 

Harkun's choice is also pretty obvious, there's a literal kill option if I recall and the persuade one and the "I'll just leave one"

 

 

Seriously though in chapter 1 of KOTET it's pretty explicit if you didn't wanted to save Arcann you had to go through Senya, then in chapter 6 when he comes back he comes back DS and you kill him. I've seen some people complain that instead you should have Arcann stand trial rather than a mere binary choice and those are fair criticisms but that's on you, not on the dev team.

 

 

Really they should have just made TOR into a SWG Pre-CU 2. That's what people wanted.

 

Add in they never should have wasted two years on story content. Going forward should have always been new flashpoints and raids.

I never played SWG but if you want to play it so much try the emulators out there, let SWTOR be SWTOR please. And while I agree now a days that 4.0/5.0 needed more multiplayer and repeatable content I disagree with story not being the focus. The story in this game is what it sets it apart from other MMOs, the vanilla game in particular does an excellent job at immersing yourself in your own story and is really the game's greatest strength. However I do think there was opportunity to tie-in multiplayer content into the previous expansions, Star Fortress could've been a flashpoint perhaps with the exarchs being featured in an operation.

[MikeCobalt]

FlameYOL Hey

Remembering all the "Anti Arcann" Threads especially during the time when it was Announced he would become Romance-able it really seemed quite a few *Missed the "I don't want to hurt Senya" approach (Not so Obvious) to putting an end to that War Criminal. Anyway...

[FlameYOL]

FlameYOL Hey

Remembering all the "Anti Arcann" Threads especially during the time when it was Announced he would become Romance-able it really seemed quite a few *Missed the "I don't want to hurt Senya" approach (Not so Obvious) to putting an end to that War Criminal. Anyway...

 

Still on you, the only way it'd be any more obvious is if the characters themselves said "Oh hey if you help Senya you won't be able to kill Arcann when he shows up during Chapter 6". Seriously the conversation makes it EXPLICITLY clear that if you help Senya Arcann will be healed and there is the possibility of him joining you.

[MikeCobalt]

More Like "If you Appreciate Senya's efforts to do the Right Thing" you'll never again be allowed to kill the main Antagonist of the story and the Person Senya's rallying against". Murder 1 person your hated forever, Murder Trillions, no big deal get a free bed, food and servants for life"

 

"A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic."....Joseph Stalin

[devilkat]

I disagree with you there, this is a similar situation as to Revan and The Jedi Exile in KOTOR. If they make a canonical statement players will definitely get angry at it. I think it is up to us to make our own headcanons as to what happened to our character.

 

I just want something more than "They mysteriously disappeared"....After all, it's not our character at that time, just another NPC who had an affect on the course of events. Some (like the Inquisitor for example) make sense to take off, looking for more artifacts. So do the smuggler and bounty hunter. Bu the soldier? A decorated Major in the Republic army just wanders off? I'm sorry, but no. It would almost be better to say that he died (if you aren't the character) than that.

 

And each character does have a canon. Every story does. It shouldn't make anyone mad, it's just an easy way to keep a story going. Revan is canon male, the exile female. I don't have an issue with that, even though I usually play female characters in both KOtOR and KOTOR2.

[fishpeople]

Still on you, the only way it'd be any more obvious is if the characters themselves said "Oh hey if you help Senya you won't be able to kill Arcann when he shows up during Chapter 6". Seriously the conversation makes it EXPLICITLY clear that if you help Senya Arcann will be healed and there is the possibility of him joining you.

 

We can help Senya but there should have been an option to put Arcann on trial for his crimes. No matter how you swing it, he's still a war criminal with a civilian kill count in the millions.

Edited July 21, 2018 by fishpeople

[FlameYOL]

More Like "If you Appreciate Senya's efforts to do the Right Thing" you'll never again be allowed to kill the main Antagonist of the story and the Person Senya's rallying against". Murder 1 person your hated forever, Murder Trillions, no big deal get a free bed, food and servants for life"

 

"A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic."....Joseph Stalin

 

Your original complaint was not being able to kill Arcann, you are. You have to kill Senya for it but in the context of the story it makes sense, KOTFE's ending set up her protecting her son even if at the cost of her life. Is it a shame you can't at least arrest him as LS? Yeah, but if you weren't able to kill Arcann that's on you and not the devs, you've made your bed now lie on it.

 

I just want something more than "They mysteriously disappeared"....After all, it's not our character at that time, just another NPC who had an affect on the course of events. Some (like the Inquisitor for example) make sense to take off, looking for more artifacts. So do the smuggler and bounty hunter. Bu the soldier? A decorated Major in the Republic army just wanders off? I'm sorry, but no. It would almost be better to say that he died (if you aren't the character) than that.

 

And each character does have a canon. Every story does. It shouldn't make anyone mad, it's just an easy way to keep a story going. Revan is canon male, the exile female. I don't have an issue with that, even though I usually play female characters in both KOtOR and KOTOR2.

I can understand the feeling, no really I do. But the moment Bioware comes out and says "Oh so this happened with the other characters" they'll get a lot of heat, I think that this way at least we're able to come up with our own explanations as to what happened to our other characters, or NPCs if you only play one class. It would be indeed nice to have a more concrete answer but it is what it is.

I have the same feeling but a lot of the community doesn't, I'm fine with them let's say making a canonical Sith Inquisitor that isn't how I played the SI class. Even though Lucasarts and Lucasfilms were the ones making the canon choices Bioware is the one that gets heat for it due to the Revan novel and the game featuring the "canon" version, my guess is they want to avoid going through that again. ATM since SWTOR is legends I don't think we're at risk of Lucasfilm forcing a canonical ending to the class stories and the like, and Bioware has been clear they won't make a "canon" statement about the player's choices. To put it simply even though I have no personal issue with it I'd rather Bioware not make a canon statement as of yet for their own sake, after the game ends though? It would be nice to have a canon statement since it would help with continuity questions.

 

We can help Senya but there should have been an option to put Arcann on trial for his crimes. No matter how you swing it, he's still a war criminal with a civilian kill count in the millions.

And that is a valid criticism, however that was not what Mike was on about, his complaint was the lack of the ability to kill Arcann which is there. I'm not defending Arcann here, if someone wants to kill him I don't blame him due to the fact he's a war criminal with blood on his hands, while I do like redeemed Arcann I don't blame anyone for killing Arcann and I do agree there should've been option for him to stand trial for his crimes. My point was he could kill Arcann but it was reliant on a choice which the game made it clear would affect the story.

[ElZaguero]

1. The changes that came with 4.0

 

BW chose to make all the companions blandly generic, taking away all the opportunities that came with their unique nature and abilities. At the same time they dumbed-down the whole game, simplified everything, made it all just one more among the great homogenous mass of MMOs, rather than that delightfully quirky, utterly unique, (and occasionally infuriating), game it had been.

 

2. The overall lack of a guiding vision.

 

Remember when they took away so many of the old currencies, saying there were too many? And then replaced them with a whole slew of new currencies? All the flip-flopping on end game gear has been infuriating. It's obvious they have no overarching plan, other than to milk the Cartel Market as hard as possible.

[Goreshaga]

I love how people calling Arcann a monster / war criminal and the likes seem to forget that our most DS PC are really no better (well even our most LS characters have blood on their hands too)

But it seems that what is ok for a PC is not for a NPC...

 

About an explanation, i could go just fine with say "X disapeared during a battle" or other explanation that are not too explicit. It gives context, and then you're free to expand on it (said character can be dead, prisonner somewhere a deserter, anything you want) or just ignore it, especially considering it's only visible in codex entries.