Without getting into whether you like or dislike the game, I have 2 questions.
First, based on your testing time and experience, how long before you think you will get bored with SW:ToR without newly added content?
Secondly, based on what you've seen the Devs do, fixing the game vs adding to the game, what is your expected "time frame" of the Devs adding new content. 3 mnths? 6 months? A year?
Bear in mind, though I was invited to Beta test the game, I haven't. As a currently subscribed SWG player who is going to be looking for a new game to play a little over week from now, those are the 2 most formost issues I am concerned about.
I am looking for honest opinions and answers.
swtor is not swg, 2 entirely different beasts, that being said, swtor is actually fun to play, swg was just a tedious chore most of the time.
200 hours x8 = 1600 hours of story at release if you play 1 of each main story class, and some of the acs beg wanting one of each.
only 2 raids at launch so im sure theyll push more of those up fast as they can, and theres world pvp while you wait.
Ok, so the guy over at "Darth Hater", who has been in beta for a while now, says he can go from level 1 to level 50 in a week and two days. That is with hitting the space bar constantly to skip all the dialog and putting in some hours. I don't know why someone would want to do that.
I was able to go from 1 to 10-12 taking my time and listening to all the dialog in less than 8 hours. That was doing all the quests I was able to and included breaks. They excluded the several heroic quests along the way as you needed to group for them. Based on that information you can get an idea of how long each class will entertain you. I'm thinking a typical player can get at at least a month out of each class. Thats someone that works and has something resembling a life.
A pet peave of mine is the Empire/Republic quests. They are the same for each side in the Star Wars universe. One set of quests for the Empire and one set of quests for the republic. I have heard that if you level a character doing only the class quests you can only get up to level 15-20. As a result you are forced to do the side quests along the way. No biggie, they are all voiced over and are remotely entertaining the first time through. These consist of (kill 20 rats and fed ex) type quests. However, these quests are the same for every class on each side.
So, during the beta weekends I leveled a Bounty Hunter up to 15 or so, an Imperial Agent up to 10 and a Sith Warrior up to 12 I think. Each class had their own class quest line, but, they all shared a lot of Imperial quests. The repetition really got to me. The first time through was fine, the second time was a little too familiar and the third time through was ruining the class quests. I just wanted to get through them as fast as possible to get back to the class quests. This is a big issue for myself at least. It limits the replay ability of the game.
As far as updates go ....
Bioware had better get moving if they want to keep people. I think that unless they have major updates every three to six months or so, people are going to leave .... it's that simple.
I don't know how you *could* level a character doing just the class quests. The quests are meant to be done with toher quests in the zone.
If you do choose to skip them, you would likely need to do a decent amount of flashpoints and PvP to make up the difference? Not sure.
I played through the Empire story line 3 times to 20ish, and the first two times I didn't mind at all and the class quests kept me interested. The third time I was skipping most of the dialogue unrelated to class quests, though since I changed my race each time I got some different dialogue and responses, which caused me to exit a few conversations and actually listen to them.
I plan on playing through at least 5 class story lines?. So I'm saying 6-8 months. The devs have already stated they have a team working on post launch content. I would expect some new goodies within 4 months of release.
This is what a lot who haven't tested the game don't get. There are a lot of story lines that are "sci-fi novel" quality. Anyone who reads books will want to see how those stories play-out.
This isn't a game where you roll alts out of sheer boredom and repeat the same quests. The individual class quest make up a large chunk of the content that you'll never see unless you play that class.
I have read every single SW book that has a timeline after episode 6. Reread them all numbers of times. I have hundreds of books in my homes, I love reading.
I dont play games to read a book. I tend to skip text in favor of playing the game.
Excluding the rereadable/multi-storyline, what is the current games content level?
You don't read here either lol. It's all cut-scenes with profesional voice actors for every single quest.
Current game content is 17 planets most of which are the equivalent in open playable space to about 1.5-2 WOW zones. Each planet has tons of solo and group (some for 2 and some for 4 players) content as well as lots of places to explore and where you may find permanent +stat boost relics known as datacrons.
Currently there are 6 flashpoints (aka dungeons) with fully scripted and voice acted interesting stories. There are tricky bosses with special abilities you need to avoid from pretty well the first flashpoint on.
There are 2 raid areas (known as Operations) to start. One an 8 man and one a 16-man raid.
Add PVP warzones, crafting, resource gathering and space combat (not my favorite) and you have a whole lot to do at launch.
All I can say is that it's too bad you didn't take the opportunity to see it for free.
And btw, I am also an impatient quest text skipper in all my previous MMOs... not a chance here: the quality of the cut-scenes and acting is superb... this s**t you won't want to miss.
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
I think it was justin that said it would take a week to level while hitting the space bar. Reason was that he works for a fan site and wants to get to end game content as soon as possible so he can talk about end game content for Darth hater.
I can feel your anger. This game is defenseless. Take your weapon. Strike this game down with all of your hatred, and your journey towards towards the Dark Side will be complete.
It really depends on the overall quality of the individual class stories, and on how long it actually takes to reach the end of the story. I purposefully only played the earliest content, with the exception of one class which I still only took a few planets in. I will definitely play each class at least once, the whole way through. Depending on which estimates are accurate, that will mean somewhere between 800 and 1600 hours worth of play. So certainly more than 6 months, possibly more than a year. Any class with a story on par with KotOR or ME2 I will play more than once, so without even factoring in expansion content, I expect a long, long time before I get bored.
Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me.
Played 2 betas and played bounty hunter story twice. I was not bored second time around at all. I did dark side and light side . If the rest of the stories are as good I can see myself playing this game for at least a year.
For the Devs I am not sure. The first major content patch will be a real test when the servers are live. It also depends on success of the game. If it does well I am would expect to see a very active dev team if not we all know how that goes. I think Bioware will be on top of things patching and releasing content quickly if the game does well.
I can feel your anger. This game is defenseless. Take your weapon. Strike this game down with all of your hatred, and your journey towards towards the Dark Side will be complete.
Without getting into whether you like or dislike the game, I have 2 questions. First, based on your testing time and experience, how long before you think you will get bored with SW:ToR without newly added content? Secondly, based on what you've seen the Devs do, fixing the game vs adding to the game, what is your expected "time frame" of the Devs adding new content. 3 mnths? 6 months? A year? Bear in mind, though I was invited to Beta test the game, I haven't. As a currently subscribed SWG player who is going to be looking for a new game to play a little over week from now, those are the 2 most formost issues I am concerned about. I am looking for honest opinions and answers.
swtor is not swg, 2 entirely different beasts, that being said, swtor is actually fun to play, swg was just a tedious chore most of the time.
200 hours x8 = 1600 hours of story at release if you play 1 of each main story class, and some of the acs beg wanting one of each.
only 2 raids at launch so im sure theyll push more of those up fast as they can, and theres world pvp while you wait.
No... EA lied.
The game doesn't have "1600 hours of story", 90% of the quests for every alt of the same faction are shared.
It's more like 190 hours of shared content and 4 different class story quests of 10 hours for each faction.
"Esport with tournaments is for hardcore pvp'rs that want to be competitive. Openworld PVP with ganking and griefing is for casuals that just wants their pvp mixed with pve from time to time." otacu
I have been in the closed beta for a long while now and here is my oppinion.
This game, while the side quests are the same, has a very entertaining personal class story line for each and every class. I enjoyed the story lines that I played, and the voice acting and quest system kind of makes you want to sit there and listen to them talk about it - it adds an extra layer of immersion and emotion. To be honest by the time I play through all 8 classes (which I intend to do purley for the stories of each class) It will likley be 6 months, in which case I'm sure there will be new endgame content. This is of course assuming I dont play till the end, play the endgame content then whine cause I'm bored, the seperate story lines are more than enough to keep you busy.
Without getting into whether you like or dislike the game, I have 2 questions.
First, based on your testing time and experience, how long before you think you will get bored with SW:ToR without newly added content?
Secondly, based on what you've seen the Devs do, fixing the game vs adding to the game, what is your expected "time frame" of the Devs adding new content. 3 mnths? 6 months? A year?
Bear in mind, though I was invited to Beta test the game, I haven't. As a currently subscribed SWG player who is going to be looking for a new game to play a little over week from now, those are the 2 most formost issues I am concerned about.
I am looking for honest opinions and answers.
1) I'm not sure. Minimum however long it takes me to play through the Sith Inquisitor, Imperial Agent and Bounty Hunter stories. I may tackle Sith Warrior story as well just to make a clean sweep of the Imperial side. I have zero interest to play the Republic side. As it is a reported 200 hours of Gameplay per class, I'd say 600 to 800 hours.
2) I'd guesstimate in the 4 to 5 month range. Maybe 6 months the first time while the live team gets their process of delivering it down, but on the lower side once they get the motions down.
"Many nights, my friend... Many nights I've put a blade to your throat while you were sleeping. Glad I never killed you, Steve. You're alright..."
Bioware had better get moving if they want to keep people. I think that unless they have major updates every three to six months or so, people are going to leave .... it's that simple.
~Hairysun
I think Bioware would agree with you, Hairysun. Check this portion of an interview with TOR associate lead designer Emmanuel Lusinchi at Gamescom in August. I think it's fairly relevant to this discussion, though he is also referencing the unique challenge BW has with TOR because of voice over:
Comments
swtor is not swg, 2 entirely different beasts, that being said, swtor is actually fun to play, swg was just a tedious chore most of the time.
200 hours x8 = 1600 hours of story at release if you play 1 of each main story class, and some of the acs beg wanting one of each.
only 2 raids at launch so im sure theyll push more of those up fast as they can, and theres world pvp while you wait.
Ok, so the guy over at "Darth Hater", who has been in beta for a while now, says he can go from level 1 to level 50 in a week and two days. That is with hitting the space bar constantly to skip all the dialog and putting in some hours. I don't know why someone would want to do that.
I was able to go from 1 to 10-12 taking my time and listening to all the dialog in less than 8 hours. That was doing all the quests I was able to and included breaks. They excluded the several heroic quests along the way as you needed to group for them. Based on that information you can get an idea of how long each class will entertain you. I'm thinking a typical player can get at at least a month out of each class. Thats someone that works and has something resembling a life.
A pet peave of mine is the Empire/Republic quests. They are the same for each side in the Star Wars universe. One set of quests for the Empire and one set of quests for the republic. I have heard that if you level a character doing only the class quests you can only get up to level 15-20. As a result you are forced to do the side quests along the way. No biggie, they are all voiced over and are remotely entertaining the first time through. These consist of (kill 20 rats and fed ex) type quests. However, these quests are the same for every class on each side.
So, during the beta weekends I leveled a Bounty Hunter up to 15 or so, an Imperial Agent up to 10 and a Sith Warrior up to 12 I think. Each class had their own class quest line, but, they all shared a lot of Imperial quests. The repetition really got to me. The first time through was fine, the second time was a little too familiar and the third time through was ruining the class quests. I just wanted to get through them as fast as possible to get back to the class quests. This is a big issue for myself at least. It limits the replay ability of the game.
As far as updates go ....
Bioware had better get moving if they want to keep people. I think that unless they have major updates every three to six months or so, people are going to leave .... it's that simple.
~Hairysun
http://www.straightdope.com/
I don't know how you *could* level a character doing just the class quests. The quests are meant to be done with toher quests in the zone.
If you do choose to skip them, you would likely need to do a decent amount of flashpoints and PvP to make up the difference? Not sure.
I played through the Empire story line 3 times to 20ish, and the first two times I didn't mind at all and the class quests kept me interested. The third time I was skipping most of the dialogue unrelated to class quests, though since I changed my race each time I got some different dialogue and responses, which caused me to exit a few conversations and actually listen to them.
You don't read here either lol. It's all cut-scenes with profesional voice actors for every single quest.
Current game content is 17 planets most of which are the equivalent in open playable space to about 1.5-2 WOW zones. Each planet has tons of solo and group (some for 2 and some for 4 players) content as well as lots of places to explore and where you may find permanent +stat boost relics known as datacrons.
Currently there are 6 flashpoints (aka dungeons) with fully scripted and voice acted interesting stories. There are tricky bosses with special abilities you need to avoid from pretty well the first flashpoint on.
There are 2 raid areas (known as Operations) to start. One an 8 man and one a 16-man raid.
Add PVP warzones, crafting, resource gathering and space combat (not my favorite) and you have a whole lot to do at launch.
All I can say is that it's too bad you didn't take the opportunity to see it for free.
And btw, I am also an impatient quest text skipper in all my previous MMOs... not a chance here: the quality of the cut-scenes and acting is superb... this s**t you won't want to miss.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
@Hairysun ;
I think it was justin that said it would take a week to level while hitting the space bar. Reason was that he works for a fan site and wants to get to end game content as soon as possible so he can talk about end game content for Darth hater.
I can feel your anger. This game is defenseless. Take your weapon. Strike this game down with all of your hatred, and your journey towards towards the Dark Side will be complete.
It really depends on the overall quality of the individual class stories, and on how long it actually takes to reach the end of the story. I purposefully only played the earliest content, with the exception of one class which I still only took a few planets in. I will definitely play each class at least once, the whole way through. Depending on which estimates are accurate, that will mean somewhere between 800 and 1600 hours worth of play. So certainly more than 6 months, possibly more than a year. Any class with a story on par with KotOR or ME2 I will play more than once, so without even factoring in expansion content, I expect a long, long time before I get bored.
Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.
Played 2 betas and played bounty hunter story twice. I was not bored second time around at all. I did dark side and light side . If the rest of the stories are as good I can see myself playing this game for at least a year.
For the Devs I am not sure. The first major content patch will be a real test when the servers are live. It also depends on success of the game. If it does well I am would expect to see a very active dev team if not we all know how that goes. I think Bioware will be on top of things patching and releasing content quickly if the game does well.
I can feel your anger. This game is defenseless. Take your weapon. Strike this game down with all of your hatred, and your journey towards towards the Dark Side will be complete.
swtor is not swg, 2 entirely different beasts, that being said, swtor is actually fun to play, swg was just a tedious chore most of the time.
200 hours x8 = 1600 hours of story at release if you play 1 of each main story class, and some of the acs beg wanting one of each.
only 2 raids at launch so im sure theyll push more of those up fast as they can, and theres world pvp while you wait.
No... EA lied.
The game doesn't have "1600 hours of story", 90% of the quests for every alt of the same faction are shared.
It's more like 190 hours of shared content and 4 different class story quests of 10 hours for each faction."Esport with tournaments is for hardcore pvp'rs that want to be competitive. Openworld PVP with ganking and griefing is for casuals that just wants their pvp mixed with pve from time to time."
otacu
I have been in the closed beta for a long while now and here is my oppinion.
This game, while the side quests are the same, has a very entertaining personal class story line for each and every class. I enjoyed the story lines that I played, and the voice acting and quest system kind of makes you want to sit there and listen to them talk about it - it adds an extra layer of immersion and emotion. To be honest by the time I play through all 8 classes (which I intend to do purley for the stories of each class) It will likley be 6 months, in which case I'm sure there will be new endgame content. This is of course assuming I dont play till the end, play the endgame content then whine cause I'm bored, the seperate story lines are more than enough to keep you busy.
1) I'm not sure. Minimum however long it takes me to play through the Sith Inquisitor, Imperial Agent and Bounty Hunter stories. I may tackle Sith Warrior story as well just to make a clean sweep of the Imperial side. I have zero interest to play the Republic side. As it is a reported 200 hours of Gameplay per class, I'd say 600 to 800 hours.
2) I'd guesstimate in the 4 to 5 month range. Maybe 6 months the first time while the live team gets their process of delivering it down, but on the lower side once they get the motions down.
"Many nights, my friend... Many nights I've put a blade to your throat while you were sleeping. Glad I never killed you, Steve. You're alright..."
Chavez y Chavez
I think Bioware would agree with you, Hairysun. Check this portion of an interview with TOR associate lead designer Emmanuel Lusinchi at Gamescom in August. I think it's fairly relevant to this discussion, though he is also referencing the unique challenge BW has with TOR because of voice over:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=KQ4-14VgkeY#t=301s
There's nothing specific about timeframe, but I think Lusinchi is acknowleging the pressing importance of delivering new content in a timely fashion.