My thoughts on Swtor

Nitth · June 2011

Hi, Just a couple of ramblings, all of which are my own opinion..

A couple of weeks ago i started doing some hard research into Swtor just to be more "informed" about what its offering and By reading through the articles and what not, I found that it was actually starting to grow on me.

I decided to re-purchase kotor 1 and 2 to get a "refresher" of what i "might" expect which did raise a few concerns for me. Im hoping people dont treat this game like a kotor3..Im one of those guys that still beleives in that virtual world, where people group to overcome great foes and socal interaction creates great communities.. and while i fully expect that most ppl are going to solo all the way through this game, Its the "other guys" thats going to give the game its longevity.

Going through Swotor with one character I think would be a really great experience. But having to go through all those cinimatics again for a second character, thats gona get old real quick.. and like other posts here, I think that swtor is going to remain in its "release state" for a very long time after launch, purely becuase of the costs involed for adding new content with voice acting.

Having a "pet" by your side 24/7 is kina a downer for me aswell, Nothing beats good human interaction while questing and such. (having a pet makes it easier to overcome great odds thus taking away group opportunies imo)

In my view,I dont think this game is going to be the messiah everyone i hoping for, Its basicly going to be wow with lightsabers. Thats all i expect from the tittle. But its pretty obvious its going to do well.

Whats my plans for release?

1.Sith warrior or inq toon, kill everything and everyone in true sith fasion.

2. Jedi healer toon, basicly the polar of the above.

3.Bounty hunter toon, yeah, im that sketchy guy in the corner of the cantena.

Just a few thoughts, hope noone takes offense to any of it.

Matticus75 · June 2011

SOMEONE EXPRESSED HIS OPINION!! ME SO ANGRY!!!! ARRRRRRGGGGG

Nitth · June 2011

Originally posted by Matticus75
SOMEONE EXPRESSED HIS OPINION!! ME SO ANGRY!!!! ARRRRRRGGGGG

Some people can be very sensitive to this topic, so i though it would be wise to add a disclaimer lol

SpandexDroid · June 2011

I was assuming having the pet following you was optional. Is this confirmed?

kalanthis · June 2011

My opinion and expectation doesn't differ that much from the OP's. I think I'll enjoy the first play through, and because of the online content I may even play through 2 or 3 times as different classes, but once I reach max level and feel like I've 'finished' the story, I can't see myself sticking around much longer.

I,too, thought pets were optional, but I think the point the OP is making is that even if they are, it will make it easier for solo players to solo, thus reducing the need to group.

ntstlkr · June 2011

I'm pretty interested to see the companions at work actually. Since they will be more than the conventional "pet" in that you interact with them and (reportedly) can even go so far as to have a relationship with one or moe. So in that respect it's more an NPC that follows you around (again not required, hell you may decide to go it alone all that time) that you can influence or maybe influences you.

Grouping will be what it always is, folks will or won't according to mood and playstyle. I think too much is made of the companions influence in this respect. If a person likes to group then they will. If they are more soloist then not so much. I really don't think the presence of companions will change a person that likes to group with others. That's gives the companions a little too much credit for other factors.

Folks who like to group all also share the inconveniience of having to wait on other people (thankfully, having a class system that allows for a degree of latitude off the beaten track of the trinity helps) but if folks aren't interested in doing what you want to do right then well you're gonna wait no matter what, or move onto something else.

As far as the cinematics go I'll be interested in my storyline for sure. I prefer a good story over many other game aspects. But I'm just going to play as I always do, play myself as the character. I'm really not so interested in playing a type of character I'm not. But there IS that freedom to do so if I choose.

Play a pure light-side Jedi in one instance then a "dark" Jedi. Then go to the otherside and play a "light sided" Sith then a really bad "dark" Sith. Each one will have their story presented, and influenced, by their choices so that's 4 storylines right there (not to mention how their choices influences their companions and their interwoven stories).

Marcus- · June 2011

Originally posted by kalanthis
My opinion and expectation doesn't differ that much from the OP's. I think I'll enjoy the first play through, and because of the online content I may even play through 2 or 3 times as different classes, but once I reach max level and feel like I've 'finished' the story, I can't see myself sticking around much longer.

I,too, thought pets were optional, but I think the point the OP is making is that even if they are, it will make it easier for solo players to solo, thus reducing the need to group.

I really haven't an opinion on this game yet, but i was curious, do you really want to force people to group with you, who don't want to group?

Nitth · June 2011

Originally posted by SpandexDroid
I was assuming having the pet following you was optional. Is this confirmed?

From what ive read on offical forums, Combat in general has been designed with the assumption that you are adventuring with a pet and thus not having one out severely decreases your survival chance of encounters.(i think they were saying pet is 50% of your total dps, will link if i can confirm)

Which basicly forces you to have one out / everyone will have one out because its the logical thing to do.

BarakIII · June 2011

Originally posted by SpandexDroid
I was assuming having the pet following you was optional. Is this confirmed?

It is, but keep in mind that encounters are balanced for having companions which means unless you're highly skilled you're likely to have your backside handed to you frequently if you try to take on content without a companion. Probably doable by some people, but the majority will need thier companions.

BarakIII · June 2011

Originally posted by Mellkor

Originally posted by SpandexDroid

I was assuming having the pet following you was optional. Is this confirmed?

From what ive read on offical forums, Combat in general has been designed with the assumption that you are adventuring with a pet and thus not having one out severely decreases your survival chance of encounters.(i think they were saying pet is 50% of your total dps, will link if i can confirm)

Which basicly forces you to have one out / everyone will have one out because its the logical thing to do.

Incorrect. You're statement is too general. Companions take on rolls such as tank/healer/dps depending on the companion and the kit you supply them with. So you're tanking companion is likely to do little damage, and the same goes with a healing companion.

SpandexDroid · June 2011

Originally posted by Mellkor

Originally posted by SpandexDroid

I was assuming having the pet following you was optional. Is this confirmed?

From what ive read on offical forums, Combat in general has been designed with the assumption that you are adventuring with a pet and thus not having one out severely decreases your survival chance of encounters.(i think they were saying pet is 50% of your total dps, will link if i can confirm)

Which basicly forces you to have one out / everyone will have one out because its the logical thing to do.

Gotcha; I think some time ago devs released info about the companions, but I am sure that for open world players will have their pets for assistance.

ormstunga · June 2011

No doubt some cutscenes will be shared between classes, or game would have to be ridiculously big. I can see where it could get boring, hopefully there's some way to skip it. Most likely even, at least the second time around. But personally its no issue at all since I've never been much for alts. In any game.

Unknown · June 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrRB1w67Yxw&feature=player_detailpage#t=893s

daniel erickson talks about how people that are grouping all the time aren't likely to use companions in this q&a from the fansite summit at about 15mins.

he also posted on the official forums to clarify what he was talking about

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=6243206#post6243206

Hey Folks,

Sometimes quotes are taken out of context (this one was not, but thanks to everyone who tried to give me the benefit of the doubt!) and sometimes people (read: me) just say things poorly when answering live Q&A.

Companions do represent a sizable amount of your power and The Old Republic is not balanced to play without them. That said, I was attempting to talk about people's likely styles of play, not what was possible. It is totally possible to play solo. You simply put your companion away. It is an extremely hard way to play and you'll likely be destroyed unless you're crazy-uber-elite guy - and even then you'll be going very slow.

Randy, our Bounty Hunter writer, booted up Dragon Age: Origins the first time we got it, put it on "Nightmare" difficulty and declared he would never take any party members with him. He's that kinda guy. Doesn't mean most people would want to attempt it. I certainly got obliterated trying to do the same thing.

Similarly, playing solo with no CCs in SWTOR isn't for everyone. Or most people. You're making the game much more difficult and choosing to miss all the companion content. But it is certainly possible.

You could also play in a two person team with no CCs, do all the solo content that way and you'd be stronger than one person with a CC. There are lots of possible scenarios but that doesn't mean the game is designed with them in mind. The solo player who is playing PvE content is expected by game design to have a CC and the game is balanced accordingly.

I did not say CCs would have to be micro-managed - at least if I did I certainly don't remember and didn't mean to. CCs have continually changed from build to build and we're always looking for that perfect solution. The goal always has been to let players who want to personally control their CCs have a meaningful amount of ways to do so and to give those people who don't wish to control them a robust enough AI that they can let them act as independent party members.

I hope that helps!

Daniel Erickson

don't know if this helps but figured i would post it.

Danbacca · June 2011

So much for thinking.

ktanner3 · June 2011

Originally posted by Mellkor
Hi, Just a couple of ramblings, all of which are my own opinion..

A couple of weeks ago i started doing some hard research into Swtor just to be more "informed" about what its offering and By reading through the articles and what not, I found that it was actually starting to grow on me.

That's what happened to me. When it was first announced I had no interest at all. The graphics were SO horrible and I just didn't get the whole story thing. Once I saw it in motion however with that first walkthrough then my interest perked up.

I decided to re-purchase kotor 1 and 2 to get a "refresher" of what i "might" expect which did raise a few concerns for me. Im hoping people dont treat this game like a kotor3..Im one of those guys that still beleives in that virtual world, where people group to overcome great foes and socal interaction creates great communities.. and while i fully expect that most ppl are going to solo all the way through this game, Its the "other guys" thats going to give the game its longevity.

I'm one of those gamers that don't mind saying a quick high, but don't expect a long discussion on the weather. Not when I'm paying a monthly sub. I take that back. If I'm not in the middle of a mission or looking for something important I might talk. But only in character. The minute you start talking american politics or the latest movie then you get on my ignore list.

Going through Swotor with one character I think would be a really great experience. But having to go through all those cinimatics again for a second character, thats gona get old real quick.. and like other posts here, I think that swtor is going to remain in its "release state" for a very long time after launch, purely becuase of the costs involed for adding new content with voice acting.

This game is really for appealing to role players like myself who likes to take the time to enjoy the environment. I'm going to play two classes and each class is going to have a different feel with different missions and different mission givers. For alt-aholics this will be a lot of fun because they have eight classes with eight different stories along with ACs. But you're right in that if you're one of those players who speeds thru the game while paying more attention to your Dowloaded music then this will probably not by a fun game for you for very long. This game is meant to be experienced, not rushed.

Having a "pet" by your side 24/7 is kina a downer for me aswell, Nothing beats good human interaction while questing and such. (having a pet makes it easier to overcome great odds thus taking away group opportunies imo)

I don't see that happening. I don't think the companions will be with you 24/7 since some of them will be crafting for you and running errands. The group content only allows companions if you are short players for a certain number group.

In my view,I dont think this game is going to be the messiah everyone i hoping for, Its basicly going to be wow with lightsabers. Thats all i expect from the tittle. But its pretty obvious its going to do well.

Who is wanting that for TOR? Personally I just want a fun game to play that is worth a monthly subscription. Anything else is just gravy. And no, this is NOT WOW with lightsabers. I'm not going to bother going point for point with you in the many ways this isn't WOW with lightsabers because it's been done countless times around here. If you want to think that then go ahead, but it isn't true.

Whats my plans for release?

1.Sith warrior or inq toon, kill everything and everyone in true sith fasion.

2. Jedi healer toon, basicly the polar of the above.

3.Bounty hunter toon, yeah, im that sketchy guy in the corner of the cantena.

I'm going Sith and Bounty Hunter. I know I'll be playing a Mercenary for the BH, but still haven't made up my mind on which Sith Class I'll be.

Just a few thoughts, hope noone takes offense to any of it.

Don't see how anyone could, but then again I've had my head bitten off just for saying that SWG wasn't a fun game. Some people take this whole gaming thing a little too seriously.

whilan · June 2011

Originally posted by Mellkor
Hi, Just a couple of ramblings, all of which are my own opinion..

A couple of weeks ago i started doing some hard research into Swtor just to be more "informed" about what its offering and By reading through the articles and what not, I found that it was actually starting to grow on me.

I decided to re-purchase kotor 1 and 2 to get a "refresher" of what i "might" expect which did raise a few concerns for me. Im hoping people dont treat this game like a kotor3..Im one of those guys that still beleives in that virtual world, where people group to overcome great foes and socal interaction creates great communities.. and while i fully expect that most ppl are going to solo all the way through this game, Its the "other guys" thats going to give the game its longevity.

While i'm sure some people will treat this exactly like kotor 3, there are things for people who don't want to stick just to the personal story quests (aka the kotor 3 part) If you decide to take on some heroic quests, go exploring do some flashpoints, raids, PvP (both the instance version and the open world) you'll run into other people, and thus have a chance to talk with them. Also note that you get special social rewards which you can use for social clothing if you partake of the multiplayer things in the game. These social clothes will likely in return help you by giving you points to persuasion and give you a slight nudge to your RNG rolls. I'd imagine not enough to make it a sure win though.

Going through Swotor with one character I think would be a really great experience. But having to go through all those cinimatics again for a second character, thats gona get old real quick.. and like other posts here, I think that swtor is going to remain in its "release state" for a very long time after launch, purely becuase of the costs involed for adding new content with voice acting.

While most of the multiplayer aspects like heroic quests, world quests and such will be shared, the actual personal story is only the same if you pick the exact same class. The personal story is different for a Bounty hunter then it would be for say a sith warrior. Plus you have the fact that each story can be changed by the player so each quest is likely to start the same but could end up very different by the end.

Though to be fair, go through it enough times and you'll see the same things, if you don't want to see a cinematic though, you can simply press the space bar and skip it. Though you'll have to do this for each line of dialog you want to skip. Also skipping in a group (party/team whatever you want to call it) requires that all party members agree before hand.

Having a "pet" by your side 24/7 is kina a downer for me aswell, Nothing beats good human interaction while questing and such. (having a pet makes it easier to overcome great odds thus taking away group opportunies imo)

I think only in flashpoints do the companions really affect your playing with other players, because they take up a slot. However in raids they aren't allowed, and in the open world, you can have your companion out and still talk to others. All the encounters, save for maybe flashpoints are suppose to be balanced either knowing you won't have companions like in the raids, or they know you have one and are balanced as such that they expect you to have one with you. As they are balanced to expect you to have one, not having one would make it harder. Basically in the open world portion the companion is a extention of you. The companion appears to be the other 40 percent of you.

Which breaks down like this

You (your character) makes up about 60 percent of the total possible power you can have.

Your companion makes up about 40 percent of the total possible power you can have.

With these two combined you are at the same power level as you would be in other MMOs without a pet.

Now you can have companions in flashpoints but they take up a group slot at this time, and as companions are slightly less powerful then the human counter part and in turn are less likely to be as precise as a human version would be, you'd most likely prefer the human over a companion any time, assuming you can find one. If you can't then the companion can take up the slack and provide as sort of a semi healer.

In my view,I dont think this game is going to be the messiah everyone i hoping for, Its basicly going to be wow with lightsabers. Thats all i expect from the tittle. But its pretty obvious its going to do well.

Yep neither did I, I expect it to be fun, and hopefully last me a while. I'll just simply disagree with the wow with lightsabers bit but i can see how you can make the connection between the two. Both are theme park based, both do have raiding at the end. Both don't have branching story arcs, or full voice overs, or reliance on companions though and the crafting is different but to each their own.

Whats my plans for release?

1.Sith warrior or inq toon, kill everything and everyone in true sith fasion.

2. Jedi healer toon, basicly the polar of the above.

3.Bounty hunter toon, yeah, im that sketchy guy in the corner of the cantena.

Just a few thoughts, hope noone takes offense to any of it.

No offense taken, answers in red, hope i helped a little.

keithian · June 2011

Originally posted by whilan

Originally posted by Mellkor

Hi, Just a couple of ramblings, all of which are my own opinion..

A couple of weeks ago i started doing some hard research into Swtor just to be more "informed" about what its offering and By reading through the articles and what not, I found that it was actually starting to grow on me.

I decided to re-purchase kotor 1 and 2 to get a "refresher" of what i "might" expect which did raise a few concerns for me. Im hoping people dont treat this game like a kotor3..Im one of those guys that still beleives in that virtual world, where people group to overcome great foes and socal interaction creates great communities.. and while i fully expect that most ppl are going to solo all the way through this game, Its the "other guys" thats going to give the game its longevity.

While i'm sure some people will treat this exactly like kotor 3, there are things for people who don't want to stick just to the personal story quests (aka the kotor 3 part) If you decide to take on some heroic quests, go exploring do some flashpoints, raids, PvP (both the instance version and the open world) you'll run into other people, and thus have a chance to talk with them. Also note that you get special social rewards which you can use for social clothing if you partake of the multiplayer things in the game. These social clothes will likely in return help you by giving you points to persuasion and give you a slight nudge to your RNG rolls. I'd imagine not enough to make it a sure win though.

Going through Swotor with one character I think would be a really great experience. But having to go through all those cinimatics again for a second character, thats gona get old real quick.. and like other posts here, I think that swtor is going to remain in its "release state" for a very long time after launch, purely becuase of the costs involed for adding new content with voice acting.

While most of the multiplayer aspects like heroic quests, world quests and such will be shared, the actual personal story is only the same if you pick the exact same class. The personal story is different for a Bounty hunter then it would be for say a sith warrior. Plus you have the fact that each story can be changed by the player so each quest is likely to start the same but could end up very different by the end.

Though to be fair, go through it enough times and you'll see the same things, if you don't want to see a cinematic though, you can simply press the space bar and skip it. Though you'll have to do this for each line of dialog you want to skip. Also skipping in a group (party/team whatever you want to call it) requires that all party members agree before hand.

Having a "pet" by your side 24/7 is kina a downer for me aswell, Nothing beats good human interaction while questing and such. (having a pet makes it easier to overcome great odds thus taking away group opportunies imo)

I think only in flashpoints do the companions really affect your playing with other players, because they take up a slot. However in raids they aren't allowed, and in the open world, you can have your companion out and still talk to others. All the encounters, save for maybe flashpoints are suppose to be balanced either knowing you won't have companions like in the raids, or they know you have one and are balanced as such that they expect you to have one with you. As they are balanced to expect you to have one, not having one would make it harder. Basically in the open world portion the companion is a extention of you. The companion appears to be the other 40 percent of you.

Which breaks down like this

You (your character) makes up about 60 percent of the total possible power you can have.

Your companion makes up about 40 percent of the total possible power you can have.

With these two combined you are at the same power level as you would be in other MMOs without a pet.

Now you can have companions in flashpoints but they take up a group slot at this time, and as companions are slightly less powerful then the human counter part and in turn are less likely to be as precise as a human version would be, you'd most likely prefer the human over a companion any time, assuming you can find one. If you can't then the companion can take up the slack and provide as sort of a semi healer.

In my view,I dont think this game is going to be the messiah everyone i hoping for, Its basicly going to be wow with lightsabers. Thats all i expect from the tittle. But its pretty obvious its going to do well.

Yep neither did I, I expect it to be fun, and hopefully last me a while. I'll just simply disagree with the wow with lightsabers bit but i can see how you can make the connection between the two. Both are theme park based, both do have raiding at the end. Both don't have branching story arcs, or full voice overs, or reliance on companions though and the crafting is different but to each their own.

Whats my plans for release?

1.Sith warrior or inq toon, kill everything and everyone in true sith fasion.

2. Jedi healer toon, basicly the polar of the above.

3.Bounty hunter toon, yeah, im that sketchy guy in the corner of the cantena.

Just a few thoughts, hope noone takes offense to any of it.

No offense taken, answers in red, hope i helped a little.

Personally I don't know what the big deal is when people call this game WOW with lightsabers. It certaintly has a huge amount of similarities to WOW and just about every game available to date. In fact, if it was WOW 2.0 and they moved it to a Star Wars universe and didn't add anything, I think you'd have a lot of happy campers. What they seem to be doing is adding so much more complexity to certain aspects of what already exists and IMO bringing it to the next generation of MMO gaming, whether it is the story never seen before to to this degree in an MMO, or the companion system which is so much more than just pets. They are bringing the RPG back to MMORPG. No more hit accept without reading. I'm finding going to be paying attention to the quests again after so many years of ignoring walls of text. It really is a matter of semantics if you ask me (which I know you didn't lol).

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