What's the incentive??

[herecomesevan]

What is the point of this game?

 

Leveling is ABSURDLY fast and easy, therefore provides no sense of reward to get to 75. There are so many beautifully crafted worlds and areas in this game, but the missions that come with them are so easy and repetitive, you can blow through an entire planet in an hour without feeling like you've actually interacted with it. Being able to fast travel EVERYWHERE makes it feel like even less of a connected world. Think about Stranglethorn Vale - a zone half the size of a SWTOR planet, but actually feels larger and more alive. Why? Because there was actually challenge and penalty involved. Venturing into the jungle actually required you to follow the quest storyline, stock up on potions and water, and plan a route to hit all the quests and return safely to Booty Bay. And you MUST run through the area. You actually get to know the world, what zones are safe and unsafe, and get a sense of accomplishment when you are able to travel into those once forbidden areas. In SWTOR? There's a speeder or quick travel to take you just about everywhere, and because your level and iRating are adjusted, every enemy is the exact same difficulty, and that difficulty is "Mind-Numbingly Easy". No reason to adjust your playstyle or think critically about approaching fights. AoE, loot, repeat.

 

Okay, so endgame gearing/raids must be where the actual game is? Right? Except that "gearing" also is insanely watered down, with adaptive gear and continuously swapping out mods to attain an arbitrary set of numbers.

 

Think about WoW, and just how rewarding it was to finally get that loot you've been fighting for. It's one single piece of gear with fixed stats, and it's PART of the world. For example, the Nightslayer set in Molten Core: it only dropped in one place, and you had to actually form a group, travel to the location, and fight through hordes of enemies, just with the intent of getting 1 or 2 pieces from the set. Remember how great that felt when it dropped? Actually cheering out loud over a pair of virtual gloves? In SWTOR, gearing consists of sitting in the fleet, spamming group finder, to get the same piece over and over again with slightly higher numbers. No effort, no reward.

 

Alright, so gearing is just a boring grind. That's fine, every game as a grind somewhere, but at least i can do operations now. But what's the point of the operations? To complete an achievement on your legacy panel? What has happened throughout the course of leveling and gearing to make "endgame" something to look forward to? Most of the flashpoints and operations are tangential or even optional parts of the storylines, and also don't feel like continuous parts of the story or questing. The fact that you can fast travel to them from ANYWHERE in the galaxy, and often don't need to manually form a group just presents Ops as another arbitrary activity.

 

All this wouldn't be such a problem if the gameplay was even remotely interesting. I've been grinding away at this game for weeks now, and even after hitting 75, Item Level, and knocking out a handful of operations, I'm still waiting for something fun to happen. The layers and layers of disparate patches and gamemodes, plus the persistent neutralizing of gear, level, and stats, leads me to believe that this wasn't actually meant to be an MMO. The game is so cluttered and watered down with convenience and "fixes," the same things that made so many people leave WoW during WotLK. There's clearly a lot of money and time going into keeping this thing alive, but how have the basics not been addressed? Why are we concerned with adding new Strongholds and Appearance customizations? Is this really a glorified dress-up doll game? Obviously that's fine if so, but why is it presented as an MMO? Is there really nothing else to do than Hammer Station until the end of time?

[xordevoreaux]

What's the incentive??

 

No idea, actually, but somehow I've managed to play non-stop since July 6th, 2013. Who knows?

It's a mystery.

Edited March 19, 2020 by xordevoreaux

[Phazonfreak]

Considering the amount of text you wrote down on how this game does not incentivice you to keep playing, and how WoW is so much better, I think it is safe to say that there is no incentive for you. You are certainly not the only one.

 

I am not saying that your points are incorrect, but it seems quite obvious that the game is not for you and what you are looking for in an MMORPG and we cannot come up with a reason for you to keep playing.

Edited March 19, 2020 by Phazonfreak

[Rogozhi]

I've noticed these things too and wonder what is there really going to be to do at level 75? It's not laid out like a typical mmo. However, I think BW knows the strength of the game is the story, so they've focused on that instead of typical mmo mechanics.

 

I can't say that's all bad either. With less time to play now that I'm older it's kind of nice playing something easier, even though I'd strongly agree the story is too easy. But I like that I'll be able to gear to 306 without having to invest hours grinding or committing to routine raids.

 

Plus I prefer PvP, so if I'm going to have to do some PvE for my gear, I'd rather it not be too tedious.

[DeVanagloris]

Well, different people like different things, op. Clearly you dont find any incentive to play, maybe you are burnt out and you should consider taking a break.

 

Personally i enjoy the class stories. I dont play pvp (used to but no more) and endgame content (ops and fps) isnt appealing to me, but the story is where it's at. Replaying the stories i have long forgotten and enjoying each and every bit of dialogue as well as the gameplay and immersion in the Star Wars universe is what does the trick for me.

 

Dressing up my toons the way i want and playing the story at my own pace is what keeps me coming back. Swtor is very relaxing if you do it this way, i hav other games if i want to play competitively, or have more tense gameplay. This is the incentive swtor offers me.

[Toraak]

I've played both WoW and swtor, and to be blunt OP. WoW was garbage. I remember how loot was during WotLK. do the same boss every day (on alts) trying to get the 1 special trinket that you see once in 7-8 months and every healer, and DPS in a 25 man Ops group rolls for it. Sorry I don't see that as enjoyable. Swtor may have it's issues for gearing, but it's a thousand times better then WoW was.

 

As for the zones you so loved in WoW, I saw them all as nothing different then here. Some zones look better then others, however it's nothing that is going to keep me playing.

 

The player needs to make his own incentive to play any MMO. I play because I like certain aspects of the game. GSF for example. I used to love to raid with my progression group, simply because I got to spend 3 hours a week around people I like. If your having issues finding reasons to play, then perhaps you need to look in the mirror and ask yourself why I want to play an MMO, and swtor in particular.

Edited March 19, 2020 by Toraak

[Floplag]

Honestly, if you think WoW is better at this point in time, im not sure i can take your opinion seriously.

But wall of text aside, the incentive is fun, for any game, if youre not having it im sure there is some other game you might enjoy more.

[Void_Singer]

I'll be honest, I stopped reading halfway into the first paragraph....

 

you seem to want to grind, and for every footstep to be a hard-won battle..... I personally think that's silly, but if you want that, you can absolutely have that experience....

 

and THAT is the incentive. you do not have to usee maxed out companions, the best gear, or even the fastest methods. Instead of complaining about how easy it is for you, take control of your experience, and remove the training wheels.if you can't be bothered to do that, then how can you claim things are too easy when you make no effort of your own to increase the challenge to your liking?

[Anyaka_Jedi]

Easy. Just let the white acute module work the whole time instead of only on double xp events. This waay for the ppl that want the vanilla experience they can enjoy it to the max by using it.

[ForfiniteStories]

I just play for story and GSF and the rad character customization. That's my incentive. I finally gave up on PvE and Achievements this year. But who knows, maybe I'll make a return someday.

 

Yeah, Classic is a superior MMORPG imo, but that's to be expected from something created as a Sandbox. I was really into it for a month or so, but I am not happy with how Blizzard is treating it. Private servers offered a far superior experience. There is too much Retail mentality in Blizzard's Classic, and thus I don't feel that a forced subscription is worth it. Otherwise, I would still play it.

 

To each their own, I suppose. We all have our niche.

 

I have to agree with what you said with specific item drops. I know there was a significant drop off of players around 4.0, when they made loot universal. That was when I had the misfortune of getting into endgame. That obviously turned out well for me. If players had more incentives for all sorts of content, maybe all sorts of content wouldn't be so dead. I would still have issues with the game, but boy, would I be much happier. Not to mention that you wouldn't need the best gear to get a group for the harder content. Right now, you'll get a gun pointed to your head even with NiM level gear that is augmented because everyone can get it. I thought it would make raids easier. But not really, since no one does that kind of stuff anymore. Prog groups would also make sense. I have no idea why people still prog. You can prog just by picking your nose; I just want the damn achievements, lol.

[Lhancelot]

What is the point of this game?

 

Maybe you have not read the history, or why SWTOR is the way it is now? I will share with you this link to a thread on SWTOR, that might provide you with some answers to your questions!

 

 

 

What happened to SWTOR? Some insight by Jeff Nyman (game tester)

 

https://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=968223

 

 

As someone with a curious mind, like you I too wondered these things over the years. I even asked the same questions! Well, now with the knowledge of how the game got developed, many of the mysteries in the game now have some explanations behind them regarding much of the actual game design as well as why there seems to be such a clunkiness to how the game has evolved over the years.

[merovejec]

I have to say upfront that if you tried and dont like it, just go back to WoW then, why waste time here?

 

Swtor is quite differnet from the MMOs out there as the creators had different plans with the game than the players expected. Players expected a WoW but the got a story driven MMO. This means that they game mainly gives out money for the story and voice acting. They also focus on nice scenery, gear looks etc, but this is the main difference from other MMOs.

 

Besides story this game also has the same features as other MMOs like gear grind, dungeons, raids, etc. The thing is you need to find something in the game you like. Some like to decorate their Stronghold, play GSF, ranked pvp, raids and progression, space barbie, whatever. If you do not find any part of the game appealing there is no point in persuading you. Many people love this game and keep on getting back to it, but its definitely not for everyone.

[jimmorrisson]

For many of us the game begins at endgame Edited March 23, 2020 by jimmorrisson

[Nemmar]

Honestly, if you think WoW is better at this point in time, im not sure i can take your opinion seriously.

But wall of text aside, the incentive is fun, for any game, if youre not having it im sure there is some other game you might enjoy more.

 

Exactly this.

 

WoW is a horrible infinite RNG fest. There is nothing there to copy. The game is bleeding so many players it's not even funny. Quite possibly under FFXIV sub numbers now. There is nothing fun about it.

 

I understand that people who especially come from WoW have a reward focus. They need a fat carrot. That's what they have always done and what the devs wanted them to think (wich is why they never bothered with " optional fun" like housing). Not having fun playing a game, but trying to feel rewarded for doing something. WoW hasn't been fun for about 4 years now. It's been an infinite chore simulator.

So, yes, for those people SWTOR doesn't make sense. Cause you don't have to grind infinitly here for this carrot that is always distancing itself. You gear up in SWTOR and you can either gear up more toons and try different gameplay styles in PvE or PvP or just enjoy and have fun playing however you like and still get rewarded, even if you just vendor all the gear and use credits to buy cosmetics or something. People play this game cause they enjoy the gameplay and story, not cause of some fat carrot reward. Though the reward exists in the form of min-maxing or cosmetics, but it's ultimately whatever you find fun.

I know it's difficult to comprehend after all this time, but playing a game for fun is what you used to do before WoW put it's claws on you.

Edited March 21, 2020 by Nemmar

[ShieldProtection]

What's the point of life? I leave this to you to answer. Perhaps you find an answer someday

[Kosef]

The incentive for me is...--FUN--

 

I recently left WoW and came back to Swtor. WoW was fun at the start of the last expansion, but that feeling quickly melted away. I'm having a blast being back in Swtor. Whenever that feeling of fun leaves me I'll move on...maybe even back to WoW where it will be once again refreshed for a time. I go where I'm having fun..no loyalties here lol.

[countdemons]

I believe

[Jdast]

Today's Deep Thought from Dasty is brought to you by the Tatooine Sand Delivery Company. Do you live on Tatooine and need sand delivered? Contact the Tatooine Sand Delivery Company!

 

Now for today's Deep Thought from Dasty:

 

"Sometimes when I've been doing something for a while, I like to do something else."

 

Dasty

Edited March 22, 2020 by Jdast

[OlBuzzard]

Today's Deep Thought from Dasty is brought to you by the Tatooine Sand Delivery Company. Do you live on Tatooine and need sand delivered? Contact the Tatooine Sand Delivery Company!

 

Now for today's Deep Thought from Dasty:

 

"Sometimes when I've been doing something for a while, I like to do something else."

 

Dasty

 

Of late I've been:

*** Remodeling the basement

*** redoing a significant part of the front yard: rose bushes / flower beds / transplanting bushes and planting new trees

*** Revisiting some old 3-D models

1. USS Missouri (BB class based on SFC models of my own designs)

2. Defiant Refit: (DS-9 NX series)

3. YT-1300H ( YT-1300F refit )

 

Oh … and I stop by here …….. from time to time …

[Lhancelot]

Of late I've been:

*** Remodeling the basement

*** redoing a significant part of the front yard: rose bushes / flower beds / transplanting bushes and planting new trees

*** Revisiting some old 3-D models

1. USS Missouri (BB class based on SFC models of my own designs)

2. Defiant Refit: (DS-9 NX series)

3. YT-1300H ( YT-1300F refit )

 

Oh … and I stop by here …….. from time to time …

 

What are these Defiant Refit, etc.? And good to see you m8.

[OlBuzzard]

What are these Defiant Refit, etc.? And good to see you m8.

 

I enjoy doing 3-D models. I use a program called Wings 3-D. It's a legitimate freeware / share ware program. When done the models can be exported in 3-DSMax (also used in games).

 

I use to have my own website and would post WIP of some of the models I make.

*** USS Missouri (BB class following a general design off of some of the discussions we had with friends back in the old SFC OP days)

 

*** Defiant

The following is not my work … it is provided by someone else. The "refit" I'm working on has a slightly different hull yet is still recognizable as a spin off of this design ...

http://imgur.com/gallery/OCWDG/comment/131715614

 

*** And of course you already know what the Corellian YT-1300f light freighter is … I'm just doing a "refit" or spin off version of that ship !

[DreadtechSavant]

So what I am seeing OP is that you think WoW is a far better game? Ok go play that. Any game will have it's good points and bad points. Yes this game has both, however if any game regardless of which game it is, once it become more of a chore to play than it is fun, move onto something else.

[MaximusRex]

Getting Loot in WoW stopped being exciting after Tier 2.

[originisgarbage]

What is the point of this game?

 

Have fun. Not having fun? Don't play.

 

(I went ahead and cut out all the nonsense that came after your question. You're welcome.)

[OlBuzzard]

Have fun. Not having fun? Don't play.

 

(I went ahead and cut out all the nonsense that came after your question. You're welcome.)

 

Cut to the chase ….

 

Get to the bottom line !!!

 

Nice !!

 

[/ Two thumbs up]

 

 

(oh … just FYI... I'm a retired purchasing director )