Do you think story is really what MMO players want?

[SnoopyDoo]

(My main point out of all of this is that I don't think adding Story as a new pillar of the MMO is a smart move when trying to beat other MMOs in the market)

 

I've been reading a lot of posts recently about what people think of this game but none directly discuss how the pillars of MMOs are being dealt with in TOR. This game is STORY DRIVEN, we've heard it numerous times now. I've heard many times In interviews the devs say they wanted story to be the new pillar in MMO and I don't think that this is a realistic prospect.

 

---> ESSAY ALERT <---

 

Think about what happens when you read a book. The story is interesting while your reading it and it can stay with you forever. You get a certain satisfaction out of knowing the parts of it. SW:TOR is saying to players 'Make your own story, live it out in your own way' This is a good idea, I myself find the idea of living an online life in the Star Wars universe to be exciting and thrilling. There is however a key problem I feel which is that this is an MMO. And what happens in all MMOs is that you reach this little brick wall called, the max level...

 

The problem with this idea of 'making your own story' is simply the restraints of the game itself. I find it very difficult to embrace this idea because I know that eventually I will run out of content or indeed just get bored with my character. Its also very difficult to live out a truly believable story in an MMO since the majority of time is spent killing defenceless animals or collecting random crap.

 

The original poll done on these forums indicated that the main things people looked for in MMOs were PvP or PvE. Anyone who has played an MMO before will surely realize that these two concepts are the foundation of the end game content. For SW:TOR these apparently weren't a problem. They made this game STORY DRIVEN despite the fact that only a tiny portion of MMO gamers would consider this even the slightest bit important. So why?

 

I feel as though this game simply lacks in certain areas and the only thing I can think to blame is there total emphasise on story. I have no doubt that this game will do well simply because there are plenty of people willing to put up with the quantity of story just to reach the end game. But what end game? Patching will surely add more content but with an old system ( eg. The Holy Trinity ) it will make it no different to WoW which has put a lot of focus into making its end game as fun as possible. BioWare needs to wake up and realize that this is something too important to just pretend isn't important and although the game may be story based, they do need to put end game in or the hardcore MMO players will just get up and leave.

 

On the topic of story I really don't like the way BioWare as implemented their vision of story. Just because I have a nice conversation with a quest giver doesn't mean that him telling me to kill 10 boars (or droids) will be any more fun. Are people really that stupid as to believe that STORY is going to make an MMO more fun in the end game. I look forward to new titles such as GW2 which promise to actually change end game for the better by directly tackling the problems people have with PVE and PVP.

 

This game feels more dull than WoW in the questing sense because adding in all this story actually increases the time that killing 10 boars would normally take. 'But thats just if you want to grind to max level', sure ill admit one thing I loved about WoW was that I could get to max level in no time by just grinding. That still doesn't change the fact that most MMO players are just like me, they want to get to that end game content as soon as they can and SW:TOR has tried to change that by introducing more stuff for you to do while you level up. This doesn't actually make the game experience any better in the sense that people still want to be max level as soon as they can, so I suppose much of this new content is in fact just pointless if people are just going to skip over it. I feel as though BioWare has actually harmed themselves by making story so important especially in the levelling part and I am not sure how they intend to carry this over into the end game.

 

To try and fix this many people may suggest that you re roll an alt, BioWare has tried to make it clear that making a new character is a whole new story and yet wont I be doing exactly the same quests? I find it hard to build this vision of a new character when so much of what I am doing is the same as what my main did previously. There is only 1 area to go and quest in for each level group, yes you could leave a location sooner or spend longer in another but you are not really living a new story except for of course your classes main one.

 

For an MMO which values story so highly it seems embarrassing that there is actually very little choice in how your story progresses. Oh I get to choose if i'm 'Light or Dark side', I do question the philosophical side of this game as can you really split life so plainly into just good deeds and evil ones. Yet the game gives you brownie points for taking one side which means players are either all evil or all good. Is there no middle ground? How can someone build a true story for themselves when the game pushes them to choose good over evil or vis versa. Yes you could just ignore the whole system but is it not outrageuous in the first place that they split moral choice so plainly?

 

To finish I would like to just discourage anyone from saying any obvious comments and that the single reason why I am posting this is to see if anyone in the community shares my concerns. BioWare has put their eggs in one basket on this game and I feel they have missed out some crucial parts of what makes MMOs successful.

 

(My main point out of all of this is that I don't think adding Story as a new pillar of the MMO is a smart move when trying to beat other MMOS in the market)

 

 

_EDIT_

I changed my main point's wording a little bit to greater reflect my actual opinion.

Edited January 2, 2012 by SnoopyDoo
A bit of wording was not giving the right impression

[Vren]

tl;dr but to answer your title, no

[Shadysketchy]

No, Story is not "that important"

 

It would've been a nice addition to a WoW-Quality MMO; but making a sub-WoW-Quality MMO, just with story sprinkled on, was a bad idea

[Qoojo]

It's not that important to me which is way I typically do not make it far in BW single player interactive movies. But I am liking this game.

[FormlessOne]

Story is very important to some folks, like myself, who don't simply want to exercise the functionality of a game - BioWare made book on engaging story lines, voice talent, and immersive plots.

 

If this game doesn't work for you, if story isn't as important as, say, raid progression, then there are actually dozens of games out there that do cater to the "succession of hamster wheels" gameplay characteristic of current MMOs.

[CupOHemlock]

Yes, yes it is.

[Vianica]

Story is very important to some folks

This.

 

Different people are different, and thus have differing opinions. Personally, story is EXTREMELY important. It's what really draws me into a game and is the principle reason for me to stick with a game (or not, as the case may be).

 

But that's me. Other people are different. This is one of those questions to which there is no ONE answer. It's all subjective.

[Archetypee]

I do find the story to be very enjoyable in this game (which I have not found in any other MMO). That said, I would trade story for quality content all day every day.

[Blackwater]

Yes it's important to some people, but it will not carry an mmo

[Zlattrick]

It's not been important before, Bioware has changed that with this game. Story is arguably the most important part of TOR. Edited January 1, 2012 by Zlattrick

[illgot]

Gameplay is more important than story.

 

If story were so important, we'd all be reading novels.

[Gazzzenn]

sorry didn't read the whole post.

 

story is important though at least for some, wow had no story of note or worth that story was told in the rts games which was left out of the mmo thats why so many feel detached from cataclsym and will feel even more detached from mists of pandaria.

 

for me the story is important it's what made star wars a successfull film and franchise for years, yes it is a simple story of light versus dark but simple story's with more complex sub plots are what make great games rather than great books where a complex story is better than a simple one.

 

honestly and i say this without trying to sound like i'm offending anyone, if you don't like story driven games then really swtor is not the game to invest time into.

[belialle]

It depends on the MMO, doesn't it? Obviously, the story is an important part of this MMO. Is it an important part of EVE Online? No.

 

EDIT:

 

Since you changed the title of your thread, here is my new answer:

 

Yes, the story makes this MMO better for me. In the case of the Jedi Knight, the story made the game worse for me. I couldn't get past the starting areas for that class. My Imperial Agent, on the other hand, has a great story. It has greatly enhanced the fun factor for me.

Edited January 1, 2012 by belialle

[DeathCorp]

The story is very important to me in this MMO.

[Godsfear]

I've spaced bar 90% of the voice acting since level 20 or so.

 

Whoever made these decisions at BW is a idiot. End game players don't care about story.

[Foxtrotmikelima]

When it came to the story in WoW I was able to skip the story without regret. Then I played STO, and even though they only started placing VO in about a year after launch. It was a very enjoyable change of pace. I still was able to skip good hunks of storyline that werent VO.

 

But for some reason, with VO I want to hear more, I want to know what the NPC is gonna say next, or how I can respond. It drives me onto the next objective, not for the grind. But for the interaction with the NPC when Im done.

 

Aside from STO, where it was just too easy to level, Ive never leveled so fast in an MMO. Normally Id be upset about this, but I know its not because there isnt enough to do, but because of the amount of effort Im putting into it.

[Gazzzenn]

Gameplay is more important than story.

 

If story were so important, we'd all be reading novels.

 

then care to explain why final fantsay 7 was the most successfull rpg for nearly 10 years? it was heavily story driven with at the time good gameplay but the story is what people remember they don't remember the gameplay.

[Malvicus]

I came here for the license and i'll be staying at least a month for the story.

[SnoopyDoo]

I've spaced bar 90% of the voice acting since level 20 or so.

 

Whoever made these decisions at BW is a idiot. End game players don't care about story.

 

This is what I have been talking about..

 

This is an MMO story is important to only a small group of players, people want action and things to be doing with their character.

[Elloa]

I'm playing this game because it's a story driven MMO. I really enjoy the way it's implemented. if SWTOR wasn't a story driven MMO, I'd certainly not play it, because there is other title on the market or soon on the market that are not story driven and are very fun in their own way.

If I wasn't playing SWTOR, I'd play Tera (soon released), or maybe WOW (after all end game is well made), or Rift.

 

 

So to answer OP. It depend of the game. In SWTOR, story is important, because story is what make SWTOR special, different.

[KretanMelithorn]

Yep. I sure do.

[AERHAE]

Game play is more important then storyline.If the game play is not good,the story can be awsome but liveing out the story line in game play right not does not match the stroy line level.

[illgot]

I've spaced bar 90% of the voice acting since level 20 or so.

 

Whoever made these decisions at BW is a idiot. End game players don't care about story.

 

and 99% of the story is pointless after your first character.

[Gazzzenn]

I've spaced bar 90% of the voice acting since level 20 or so.

 

Whoever made these decisions at BW is a idiot. End game players don't care about story.

 

thats your choice though and you could have just ticked the box in the interface options to skip them instead of pressing space bar...but you didn't why? is it because deep down you actually wanted to see them?

 

just because it doesn't suit you doesn't mean it was the wrong decision.

 

when i get to end game i will be what you call an end game player, the difference being i will have enjoyed the leveling proccess and won't complain about lack of content when i get there.

[SnoopyDoo]

and 99% of the story is pointless after your first character.

 

Only a small fraction changes. It's boring after you make one character to train a new one. So many cut scenes to shift through...