Top 10 criticisms of SW:TOR with responses

[Delekii]

1. Bad or cartoon-y looking graphics.

 

> Its called stylized graphics. SW:TOR's graphics are not designed to be photo-realistic so that they will not look dated in a year or two. If you want photo-realism, play BF3 (great game EA).

Stylized graphics doesn't explain missing textures and antialiasing. Even comics benefit from antialiasing, and for a common day game not to have it as standard is ridiculous.

 

2. Linear storyline.

 

> SW:TOR is a story-line driven game. All MMORPGs with experienced-based character leveling are by nature linear to some extent. SW:TOR is unique in that at each step in the storyline, you can make decisions from multiple paths that will affect the destiny of your character.

The argument is not that a linear storyline isn't necessary or right for the game. The argument is that the storylines make no sense within the context of an MMO. I don't want to post spoilers, but I am assuming all the storylines are as ridiculous as the sith inquisitor one is when considering the fact that every single inquisitor in the game reaches the same post.

 

3. No open world. I dont like exhaustion or boundaries.

 

> Its a big galaxy, did you expect to be able to ride a speeder from one planet to another? Exhaustion and boundaries are part of every MMORPG including WoW. No game world goes on forever.

A happy medium would have been nice. Some worlds feel nice and large; others feel like a little boxed in km off in the distant corner of the planet (quesh, anyone?)

 

4. No dungeon finder.

 

> Type /who and hit enter. You can find people who are LFG and in the zone where you are questing or doing heroics. Dungeon finders, especially x-server destroy MMO communities and distort character progression by removing players from the flow of the game and rewarding bad behavior. Server communities are self policing, if you behave badly, you will be removed from your flashpoint or heroic group and likely remembered so be a team player and help your group.

The system in place is antiquated and non-functional, otherwise people would use it.

 

5. No x-server warzone finder.

 

> Just click the Republic or Empire button and wait, you can queue with a group from your guild or server. See #4 for x-server issues and their effect on server communities. If you want a mindless, anonymous pvp grind, SW:TOR is not the game for you.

Your personal opinions are not counter arguments. LFD was amazing for WoW, in my opinion, I have no issues with it.

 

6. No flying mounts.

 

> You have your own space ship, you can go anywhere in the galaxy in an instant. What more do you want?

You can't go anywhere in the galaxy in an instant. You can go to a handful of startports in the galaxy in an instant. I don't think flying mounts are a good idea in any MMO anyway, but your "counterargument" makes no sense.

 

7. Companion crafting and gathering.

 

> You have more than one of your own personal valet, bodygaurd, cyber-@#$ toy, servant or slave. Yes, you have to equip it and give it gifts. What more do you want?

I've never seen anyone complain about the crafting system, so I'm guessing you are trying to add more to make your post melodrammatic.

 

8. SW:TOR is boring, cut scenes and voice acting are time consuming and a waste of time.

 

> Voice acting and cut scenes are a key part of the game. If you have MMORPG ADHD, try ritalin. If that doesnt work, SW:TOR is not the game for you. Group or social gameplay is strongly encouraged. If you dont play well with others, there are some parts of the game that you will not experience.

I got to 50 just fine without paying attention to 99% of the quests that weren't the class-specific storyline. Every now and then I would listen to one if it sounded interesting; of those, 95% could have read "Go to location y and collect x, then come back!" and they would have had as much relevance to the storyline. There is a reason books and movies stay, for the vast majority of the time, on one topic. There are very few books/stories that interject the main story with thousands of unrelated offshoots. Side quests are a necessary time sink in the leveling process, but are not good as story mechanics, and certainly needn't be glorified.

 

9. SW:TOR is not a true MMORPG.

 

> By whose standard? It may not be the MMORPG you are used to but SW:TOR is definitely an MMO-ROLE-PG. Take it from a role-player, SW:TOR is a role-players wet dream.

It may be an ORPG, but it is very difficult to consider it MM. In the few times that you do want to interact with other players, you can't unless you spend time spamming the channel.

 

10. SW:TOR is buggy.

 

> More than 3 years and hundreds of millions of dollars in development. Take it from a software developer, software development is an imperfect process. BioWare does it better than most. Given the size and scope of SW:TOR, the game is remarkably stable and bug free. If you find a bug, report it. Remember that THE LACK OF A FEATURE THAT YOU WANT IS NOT A BUG. BioWare's programmers are bug-stomping as you read this.

Bugs are to be expected. Bugs that were reported for MONTHS in Beta and are game breaking for players are not. There should never, for any reason, be a bug that means that no bounty hunter who makes a wrong conversation decision in the final fight of their story quest would be stuck, unable to proceed their story for example. That is a bug that should NEVER have seen light of day.

 

 

Ultimately, a post full of thinly veiled opinions, some which are in blatant contradiction to fact.

[Wraithwarr]

/signed! Brilliant!

[MookieFett]

no one cares about half of these complaints and ure responses were terrible. How much does bioware pay you?

[Wraithwarr]

I got to 50 just fine without paying attention to 99% of the quests that weren't the class-specific storyline.

 

 

There is the problem.

[Wraithwarr]

no one cares about half of these complaints and ure responses were terrible. How much does bioware pay you?

 

I care, and what is "ure"?

[Delekii]

There is the problem.

 

What problem? Did I say I had trouble or disliked the experience?

 

I'll tell you the two things I disliked about leveling:

 

1. I didn't see any flashpoints or half the heroics, because I am not willing to spam people's chatboxes with crap.

 

2. My spacebar probably needs replacing thanks to all the mind-numbing irrelevant side quest fluff.

[Wraithwarr]

it is NOT an mmo

 

yes, it is.

[Tedstery]

Good post, totally agree.

[Delekii]

yes, it is.

 

It's an MMO like Britney Spears is a musician. She says she is, and her adoring fans say she is, but others know that she belongs more in the screaming cat being whipped around by its tail category.

[Wraithwarr]

What problem? Did I say I had trouble or disliked the experience?

 

I'll tell you the two things I disliked about leveling:

 

1. I didn't see any flashpoints or half the heroics, because I am not willing to spam people's chatboxes with crap.

 

2. My spacebar probably needs replacing thanks to all the mind-numbing irrelevant side quest fluff.

 

A lot of the games charm is based on immersion and story. That is what was advertised for the past few years. If you were expecting something different i'm not sure what to tell you. Getting groups for flashpoints is quite easy. The heroics are flashpoints are a great way to learn your role and class before hitting 50. If you skipped this content and component of the game it is your issue, not biowares.

[Wraithwarr]

It's an MMO like Britney Spears is a musician. She says she is, and her adoring fans say she is, but others know that she belongs more in the screaming cat being whipped around by its tail category.

 

 

Now your just being silly.

[Delekii]

A lot of the games charm is based on immersion and story. That is what was advertised for the past few years. If you were expecting something different i'm not sure what to tell you. Getting groups for flashpoints is quite easy. The heroics are flashpoints are a great way to learn your role and class before hitting 50. If you skipped this content and component of the game it is your issue, not biowares.

 

You are imposing your subjective opinion on what constitutes a fun experience on to other people. As long as you do that, you are unable to make a rational or cogent argument.

 

Getting groups for flash points is not easy. That you think it is means you are either a healer or a tank, or masochistic.

 

As for "a great way to learn your role", that is an asinine argument used typically by bad players who project their on inflexibility onto others. Most moderately intelligent people can pick up the vast majority of what is required to perform any function in any mmo in a number of hours, if that.

[Delekii]

Now your just being silly.

 

No, I am being melodramatic, a lot like the pro-swtors in this thread. MM stands for massively multiplayer. There is no massive about this game.

[Ekemeister]

+1 rep to OP

[JayneKobb]

Nice post OP

[Andryah]

It's an MMO like Britney Spears is a musician. She says she is, and her adoring fans say she is, but others know that she belongs more in the screaming cat being whipped around by its tail category.

 

First time I have seen Britney Spears used in an analogy.

 

I gotta give you props for that.... but I disagree with your analogical analysis.

[Alstiar]

I agree that this game is remarkably stable and bug free for a launch MMO. While certain aspects of the game aren't perfect and systems could use tweaking or complete overhauls, that doesn't mean the game is broken.

[Megaberna]

My faith in this community as just been restored!

 

Thank you

[Fraxture]

It's an MMO like Britney Spears is a musician. She says she is, and her adoring fans say she is, but others know that she belongs more in the screaming cat being whipped around by its tail category.

 

And yet she has more money than you could dream of in a life time.

I personally cannot stand her, like Lady GaGa.

 

But if the masses want to throw their money at her, then that's their prerogative.

 

Just like it ours to say we enjoy a game you apparently do not.

 

You are not trying to enlighten us because you care how we spend our dollar.

You are just ticked off because the game doesn't fit your needs.

 

So logically, stop playing and go somewhere to find a game that does fit your needs.

 

In your analogy.

You are like the person that buys front row Britney Spears tickets so you can stand there screaming what a horrible singer she is.

Edited January 3, 2012 by Fraxture

[ApesAmongUs]

I am not here to support the trolls, flamers and haters:rolleyes:

 

Feel free to make your own top ten list

So, your intention was to misrepresent what other people were saying and to respond to that instead of the actual complaints?

 

That's called a strawman, and you knocked yours down quite adequately.

[richardya]

 

8. SW:TOR is boring, cut scenes and voice acting are time consuming and a waste of time.

 

> Voice acting and cut scenes are a key part of the game. If you have MMORPG ADHD, try ritalin. If that doesnt work, SW:TOR is not the game for you. Group or social gameplay is strongly encouraged. If you dont play well with others, there are some parts of the game that you will not experience.

 

[/i]

 

Excuse me but I love the game and sometimes skip the cut scenes. It is the game for me but I do what I enjoy. I love the PvP and questing and my class quests so thats what I do. I rate the game 10/10

 

I have not done space combat or crafting yet either. It may add more to my enjoyment, if it doesn't, i will skip it.

Edited January 3, 2012 by richardya

[ironix]

I don't mean to be captain bringdown here, but you're the one who made the initial claim, that bioware is an above average company, coding wise, and only cited that you know as evidence (fallacy of argument from authority) it is your burden, actually, to provide evidence that bioware is an above-average software developwer within the scope of "how many bugs" their games have at launch.

 

Otherwise, the statement may be dismissed without any evidence, as this poster has retorted.

 

 

Disclaimer: i like the game, i just noticed some fallacious argument there.

 

Oh the irony of the following statement. =D

 

These forums are full of fallacious arguments.

[Bobsagoth]

This is actually first mmo that i hate playing. It got everything wrong and then made it expotentially worse. Quest with killing, yup but with bonus quests with even more killing. Click stuff to complete quests, yup but inside long corridor like construction with tons of killing with bonus quest that includes even more killing. Vehicle dismounts, yup but now it's actually unavoidable if you agro enemies with ranged weapons and boy is it hard to do in Taris and other corridor like planets without any wide open spaces. Talking bout wide open spaces... only seen Hoth and Tatooine having them so far (at lvl 40 when i stopped), otherwise it's just corridors leading into other corridors.

 

And while ranting, what bout the setting that's supposed to be bout 3000 years before Phantom menace and yet the ships, weapons, armor and feel is exactly the same as in the movies. Just like the loading screen with Jango Fett and Ewan McGregor in it, it's no doubt that the look of things was to have stuff look familiar which people like very much.

 

First i was with the fanboy club pretending that things were good but after 3rd bonus series it started to crumble. First time it was kinda fun to have something to do after the class quest clearly leads you off the planet but after the second time i just started to be afraid that every planet has those. Point here is that while class quest makes it VERY clear that the planet is conquered and all resistance is crushed and yer on your way out happily thinking the challenges on next planet, there's one more quest marker on starport... Oh yeah, the rebels weren't that crushed at all and theres still very much opposition indeed which we can't manage without you, no sir. And off i'm again to kill stuff in areas that has bonus quests for killing even more stuff.

 

Then onto the starship. Anyone counted how many loading screens it takes to change planet because of that ship? Try travelling from Hutta to Hoth and you'll notice something quite immersion breaking that includes:

 

- Taking shuttle to station (loading)

- Walking to proper story area elevator (loading)

- Walking from elevator to ship airlock (loading)

- Flying to Hoth and exiting ship (loading)

- Walking from ship airlock to elevator (loading)

- Walking from story area elevator to shuttle (loading)

 

Not that it isnt nice to "own" place where you can click stuff and store items in box. Space battles are kinda nice for start. But having this thing in game which makes you stare that much at loading screens is just... And don't go saying that it's supposed to be like that as theres proper procedure in doing things when travelling. Proper procedure should be:

 

-Go to ship (loading)

- Travel (loading)

-Disembark at destination.

 

Point being that this game is too restricted and linear for modern age that has games like Fallen Earth (too bad it's not doing good) and such with truly open world, or Tabula Rasa 8god forbid) that acutally had good fighting system for a game that had guns. SWG had proper space combat with proper ship customisation and open world. Wurm online has so open world that you wouldn't believe and it's a indie game.

 

Too bad that most of the gripes here i've having are development choices and most likely they'll be never changed. I dont mind the bugs and all that since i've actually played Hellgate London (and global) and enjoyed it, but Bioware should've done their research just like Blizzard who've been ripping best ideas out of other games for years now since they are going for mass market. Masses like things stupid and easy to digest, just like this game is trying to be and World of Warcraft has become (do i need to mention Modern Warfare?) and that's one reason those gliche games are having low subs.

 

Back to initial idea behind this post. This is indeed the only game i've hated this much, somehow it just rubs me in wrong way no matter what i try to do. Alts doesn't help anymore nor that voice acted storyline which annoys me to a no end as everyone in galaxy far away is incapable of doing anything and will require you to help them. (been playing Sith and i think tha the reason Sith Empire will fall again is due to Darths killing everyone due to their incompetence).

 

Thanks.

[inseeisyou]

^

 

You write that much as a response that no one will never read? At least start your own post if you are going to devote that much effort into a forum composition bro.

 

PS: I didn't read it.

[ironix]

^

 

You write that much as a response that no one will never read? At least start your own post if you are going to devote that much effort into a forum composition bro.

 

PS: I didn't read it.

 

Why would you even bother replying to a post you didn't read? I read the entire thing. He makes some valid points, though I can't say I hate playing this game as of yet.

 

I am, however, beginning to loathe the useless corridors, elevators, and shuttles involved in travelling from planet to planet.