You know maybe your right and down the line Im going to be like goddamn this game is sucking now. I reget spending all that money- oh wait!
I didn't say anything about the price. I'm referring to the game sucking and being a general waste of time. That's my opinion though. It might be the best game you've ever played, so I say go for it.
Lol I know I was only poking fun. To be honest Ive relised Im only playing it for story with my friend and I guess Im not really caring about anything else. Maybe its because of my lack of investment in swtor.
I think this may be one big thing. People want to and love to invest a huge amount of time, effort, and emotion into MMOs. I just play TOR for the story, some pvp and flashpoints, and having a good time with friends.
I'm not playing it to raid or be the best geared PvP with all the trimmings. It's star wars, has great music, the best story in a mmo, combat is alright. I had more fun playing WoW, but I had like...300 people I could play with at any time in that game.
Also I might add that I find that I treat it like a co-op rpg then anything else. To be honest thats kinda what it is imo. A co-op rpg with stuff added on to it which is all the stuff you have to pay more which also shows why I dont really care about anything in the cah shop.
Seriously though who do I have to force choke to get my extra quickbars!
What server are you on?
The oceanic pve one. I cant belive they have oceanic servers that are actually in the oceanic area... No company does this for me not even the mighty Blizzard. 30 ms in swtor what... WHAT This doesnt make... I need to lie down.
Ah, I would have bought you a ui bar if you were on pot5
So I get free to play Star Wars for a laugh. Ive read all the rage here and I just want to see what its like.
I get in and man its really fun. I thought the combat was going to be press your button 100000 years later it responds but no its pretty responsive. Theres something fun about running around blasting things in the face or wielding a lightsaber. The combat is not that bad. The story quests are really good too I was having more fun with them then I though I would.
Then theres free to play I read all the stuff here and was preparing my defenses for the monetary onslaught that would be coming my way from EA! OOOHH SHIII- Oh wait.. whats this.. It doesnt seem that bad at all. I was scanning the shop for things that would piss me off or restrictions that I would send me reeling away at lightspeed. Nope. Most of the cash shop has useless crap I dont want. The only things that annoy me are credit restrictions and the quickbar thing like seriously EA give me my god forsaken quickbars. Otherwise I dont give a shit about anything else. I just want my co op story which ive got for free on every class. Honestly I cant see the nickle and diming.
Dungeons? meh I guess if you really care about them, flashpoints meh, mail meh, warzones meh, operations meh, space combat LOL, umm what else, titles id like but i can live, some character customisation whatever, the galactic trade network dont care why would i sit on the ah when im just for the story. Restrictions on companions i guess is annoying but i dont really care about them cause i like my blaster better. no epics dont care not in it for epics.
Feels like I got a new online/co-op kotor for free and just have to pay for all the extra stuff. Been playing with my friend who was subbed before and its fun doing the story with him. Hes having fun Im having fun. Its for free everybody wins.
I mean.... pewpew its star wars!
1) You didn't buy the game for full price
2) You haven't reached the point where the quickslot bar limitation becomes a problem
3) You haven't reached an endgame that doesn't warrant a sub
I bought the game because I really enjoyed the sith assasin story in the open beta. I didn't have a well informed opinion of the game until hitting the level cap
CE owner that's been (and still is) subscribed since launch and followed the game development before it was even officially anounced:
FrodoFragins is 100% right.
Now about the responsiveness the combat isn't right. You'll notice it as soon as you're doing some (serious?) PvP or play together next to a friend/husband/wife or do multiboxing.
The story gets old after the first planet for too many classes and it's the same scenarii on every each planet with slight differences.
Companions are required to play in solo mode unless you outlevel content, which is I must say prety easy.
Epics... well soon enough you'll care, trust me
Finally as you're saying SWTOR ain't a bad co-op game but it's far from a good one in a 2012 world or what it could have been.
So I get free to play Star Wars for a laugh. Ive read all the rage here and I just want to see what its like.
I get in and man its really fun. I thought the combat was going to be press your button 100000 years later it responds but no its pretty responsive. Theres something fun about running around blasting things in the face or wielding a lightsaber. The combat is not that bad. The story quests are really good too I was having more fun with them then I though I would.
Then theres free to play I read all the stuff here and was preparing my defenses for the monetary onslaught that would be coming my way from EA! OOOHH SHIII- Oh wait.. whats this.. It doesnt seem that bad at all. I was scanning the shop for things that would piss me off or restrictions that I would send me reeling away at lightspeed. Nope. Most of the cash shop has useless crap I dont want. The only things that annoy me are credit restrictions and the quickbar thing like seriously EA give me my god forsaken quickbars. Otherwise I dont give a shit about anything else. I just want my co op story which ive got for free on every class. Honestly I cant see the nickle and diming.
Dungeons? meh I guess if you really care about them, flashpoints meh, mail meh, warzones meh, operations meh, space combat LOL, umm what else, titles id like but i can live, some character customisation whatever, the galactic trade network dont care why would i sit on the ah when im just for the story. Restrictions on companions i guess is annoying but i dont really care about them cause i like my blaster better. no epics dont care not in it for epics.
Feels like I got a new online/co-op kotor for free and just have to pay for all the extra stuff. Been playing with my friend who was subbed before and its fun doing the story with him. Hes having fun Im having fun. Its for free everybody wins.
I mean.... pewpew its star wars!
Call us back after about three or four weeks and let us know what you think then.
You can say this for about every MMO listed on this site by many,
You can say it for every single player game, but MMO not really - Every other MMO I have played there has always been a reason to keep returning to them, plus they have worlds where you can "live" in, especiallty SWG - that had infinite ciontent, depending on your level of imagination, the 32 professions and the deep crafting system gave you years of entertainment alone
SWTORs problem is they just sit on content, and do not do anything to add more, and the worlds are so stagnant it does not atract people to "live" in them
Oh boy, here we go with the SWG comparisons again.
I played SWG off an on for a bit. I saw it populated and then barren towards the end. The game was only as good as its population. All those cool sandbox features? Pretty useless when no players were around.
The point I was trying to make before you injected SWG into this...was that most people these days find a month's worth of satisfaction in an MMO, then leave.
This has been true for every release for as long as I can remember.
I remember when WoW came out, friends of mine from EQ2 complained how WoW sucked and they burned through it like nothing. I played for maybe 3 months. One of my longer sessions have been with EQ2. Had a lot of fun. Yet, I know some whom didnt even make a month.
I digress. It's called the month dropoff for a reason....most MMOs have trouble retaining players after the initial month or so.
You may be the exception to the rule, but as much as you dislike SWTOR and like to bring up everything awful about it, there's someone else who finds it so much much better than that buggy mess called SWG.
As for living in the game....yeah, SWG felt really lived in after the NGE. Haven't seen a more dead feeling world than that.
So I get free to play Star Wars for a laugh. Ive read all the rage here and I just want to see what its like.
I get in and man its really fun. I thought the combat was going to be press your button 100000 years later it responds but no its pretty responsive. Theres something fun about running around blasting things in the face or wielding a lightsaber. The combat is not that bad. The story quests are really good too I was having more fun with them then I though I would.
Then theres free to play I read all the stuff here and was preparing my defenses for the monetary onslaught that would be coming my way from EA! OOOHH SHIII- Oh wait.. whats this.. It doesnt seem that bad at all. I was scanning the shop for things that would piss me off or restrictions that I would send me reeling away at lightspeed. Nope. Most of the cash shop has useless crap I dont want. The only things that annoy me are credit restrictions and the quickbar thing like seriously EA give me my god forsaken quickbars. Otherwise I dont give a shit about anything else. I just want my co op story which ive got for free on every class. Honestly I cant see the nickle and diming.
Dungeons? meh I guess if you really care about them, flashpoints meh, mail meh, warzones meh, operations meh, space combat LOL, umm what else, titles id like but i can live, some character customisation whatever, the galactic trade network dont care why would i sit on the ah when im just for the story. Restrictions on companions i guess is annoying but i dont really care about them cause i like my blaster better. no epics dont care not in it for epics.
Feels like I got a new online/co-op kotor for free and just have to pay for all the extra stuff. Been playing with my friend who was subbed before and its fun doing the story with him. Hes having fun Im having fun. Its for free everybody wins.
I mean.... pewpew its star wars!
1) You didn't buy the game for full price
2) You haven't reached the point where the quickslot bar limitation becomes a problem
3) You haven't reached an endgame that doesn't warrant a sub
I bought the game because I really enjoyed the sith assasin story in the open beta. I didn't have a well informed opinion of the game until hitting the level cap
CE owner that's been (and still is) subscribed since launch and followed the game development before it was even officially anounced:
FrodoFragins is 100% right.
Now about the responsiveness the combat isn't right. You'll notice it as soon as you're doing some (serious?) PvP or play together next to a friend/husband/wife or do multiboxing.
The story gets old after the first planet for too many classes and it's the same scenarii on every each planet with slight differences.
Companions are required to play in solo mode unless you outlevel content, which is I must say prety easy.
Epics... well soon enough you'll care, trust me
Finally as you're saying SWTOR ain't a bad co-op game but it's far from a good one in a 2012 world or what it could have been.
Story gets old in anything. I've yet to play an MMO with a story that I didn't find boring after a while. Still, the story in TOR is leaps and bounds ahead of its predecessors.
I've actually never had an issue with the responsiveness in combat and I have pvp'ed quite a bit. But I have heard this brought up time and again.
It's a fun MMORPG but not nearly the epic game everyone was hoping for.
I've had a sub since early access and have just started playing again after a much needed break.
So I get free to play Star Wars for a laugh. Ive read all the rage here and I just want to see what its like.
I get in and man its really fun.
9 out of 10 really bad MMORPGs are really fun the first few hours. Most decent MMORPGs become bad ones by mid level...and some good MMORPGs become crap by end game.
It's the hotbar restriction that has basically made F2P SW:TOR unplayable for me. I'm also not a fan of the XP restrictions, but I don't know how bad they are.
So I get free to play Star Wars for a laugh. Ive read all the rage here and I just want to see what its like.
I get in and man its really fun. I thought the combat was going to be press your button 100000 years later it responds but no its pretty responsive. Theres something fun about running around blasting things in the face or wielding a lightsaber. The combat is not that bad. The story quests are really good too I was having more fun with them then I though I would.
Then theres free to play I read all the stuff here and was preparing my defenses for the monetary onslaught that would be coming my way from EA! OOOHH SHIII- Oh wait.. whats this.. It doesnt seem that bad at all. I was scanning the shop for things that would piss me off or restrictions that I would send me reeling away at lightspeed. Nope. Most of the cash shop has useless crap I dont want. The only things that annoy me are credit restrictions and the quickbar thing like seriously EA give me my god forsaken quickbars. Otherwise I dont give a shit about anything else. I just want my co op story which ive got for free on every class. Honestly I cant see the nickle and diming.
Dungeons? meh I guess if you really care about them, flashpoints meh, mail meh, warzones meh, operations meh, space combat LOL, umm what else, titles id like but i can live, some character customisation whatever, the galactic trade network dont care why would i sit on the ah when im just for the story. Restrictions on companions i guess is annoying but i dont really care about them cause i like my blaster better. no epics dont care not in it for epics.
Feels like I got a new online/co-op kotor for free and just have to pay for all the extra stuff. Been playing with my friend who was subbed before and its fun doing the story with him. Hes having fun Im having fun. Its for free everybody wins.
So I get free to play Star Wars for a laugh. Ive read all the rage here and I just want to see what its like.
I get in and man its really fun. I thought the combat was going to be press your button 100000 years later it responds but no its pretty responsive. Theres something fun about running around blasting things in the face or wielding a lightsaber. The combat is not that bad. The story quests are really good too I was having more fun with them then I though I would.
Then theres free to play I read all the stuff here and was preparing my defenses for the monetary onslaught that would be coming my way from EA! OOOHH SHIII- Oh wait.. whats this.. It doesnt seem that bad at all. I was scanning the shop for things that would piss me off or restrictions that I would send me reeling away at lightspeed. Nope. Most of the cash shop has useless crap I dont want. The only things that annoy me are credit restrictions and the quickbar thing like seriously EA give me my god forsaken quickbars. Otherwise I dont give a shit about anything else. I just want my co op story which ive got for free on every class. Honestly I cant see the nickle and diming.
Dungeons? meh I guess if you really care about them, flashpoints meh, mail meh, warzones meh, operations meh, space combat LOL, umm what else, titles id like but i can live, some character customisation whatever, the galactic trade network dont care why would i sit on the ah when im just for the story. Restrictions on companions i guess is annoying but i dont really care about them cause i like my blaster better. no epics dont care not in it for epics.
Feels like I got a new online/co-op kotor for free and just have to pay for all the extra stuff. Been playing with my friend who was subbed before and its fun doing the story with him. Hes having fun Im having fun. Its for free everybody wins.
I mean.... pewpew its star wars!
1) You didn't buy the game for full price
2) You haven't reached the point where the quickslot bar limitation becomes a problem
3) You haven't reached an endgame that doesn't warrant a sub
I bought the game because I really enjoyed the sith assasin story in the open beta. I didn't have a well informed opinion of the game until hitting the level cap
CE owner that's been (and still is) subscribed since launch and followed the game development before it was even officially anounced:
FrodoFragins is 100% right.
Now about the responsiveness the combat isn't right. You'll notice it as soon as you're doing some (serious?) PvP or play together next to a friend/husband/wife or do multiboxing.
The story gets old after the first planet for too many classes and it's the same scenarii on every each planet with slight differences.
Companions are required to play in solo mode unless you outlevel content, which is I must say prety easy.
Epics... well soon enough you'll care, trust me
Finally as you're saying SWTOR ain't a bad co-op game but it's far from a good one in a 2012 world or what it could have been.
Story gets old in anything. I've yet to play an MMO with a story that I didn't find boring after a while. Still, the story in TOR is leaps and bounds ahead of its predecessors.
I've actually never had an issue with the responsiveness in combat and I have pvp'ed quite a bit. But I have heard this brought up time and again.
It's a fun MMORPG but not nearly the epic game everyone was hoping for.
I've had a sub since early access and have just started playing again after a much needed break.
1) Story is supposedly what's sells TOR and well I was answerring to the above poster
2) Here's some detailed infos about ability delay: (source)
Note: Please, if you agree with these points and this subject, rate the thread. Perhaps this will raise Bioware's awareness. Anything we can do to make SW:TOR the best it can be because the truth is you and I are here because we want it to succeed and we see it's potential.
The game has been out long enough for the masses to finally realize the negatives. As people are getting out of the starting planets and the "new and shiny" feeling starts to subside, the cracks in this new wonderous world are becoming apparent.
Ability Delay and Character Responsiveness: -- It is not Latency or FPS Lag
I will attempt to discuss this issue and I will do so in a manner that I hope will make everyone understand it better. The "Character Responsiveness" for lack of a better term, is how "smooth" the game plays from your avatars perspective. I have played SWG and EQ to a lesser degree as well as Warhammer Online and several other MMOs and I must honestly say that Bioware has gotten this all too important aspect much better than any previous MMO that I have experienced (with the obvious exception, to which we will get soon).
You see, I really want you (The Reader) to understand the importance of this topic. To drive home "how" important this is. In fact I will say this: I am in no way shy to say that, the reason Warhammer Online, EQs, Rift, SWG etc. etc. could never "ever" get to anything near WoW subscriptions is the Character Responsiveness. All these games failed for many reasons, and a game "can" fail for many reasons and on many fronts but this single-one-category... is by "far" the #1 Reason why World of Warcraft is World of Warcraft.
Again, I must drive home the fact that no matter if you understand this issue or are new to the subject (and perhaps MMOs) or if you believe the game is fun and enjoyable and think that this is just a vocal minority piping up on something nonsensical. This is the undeniable truth and any game developer or serious gamer worth their salt will agree.
What is Character Responsiveness and Ability Delay? -- It is not Latency or FPS lag
It is the feeling of connection between the person behind the keyboard and the Avatar that is being controlled. Basically, the better the Character Responsiveness is, the smoother the Game Plays! You may HATE World of Warcraft and believe it is the worst abomination on the planet... that is fine. HOWEVER, you "must" objectively admit that it is the absolute, smoothest Character Responsiveness in a Western Available MMO ever.
If you are a WoW player, and have played WoW with any amount of skill, competitiveness, you cannot help but cringe when in a Warzone in SW:TOR. It feels unresponsive, frustrating... as if something is wrong with you! but there is nothing you can do about it!
If you have never played WoW, perhaps you come from SWG or EQ2 or Rift etc. that is fine! You are WELCOME in this thread, it is not WoW Players against the Rest! I just "need" you to understand that SW:TOR is "noticeably" and "objectively" bad in this crucial department. I am not writing this because I am trolling or because I love WoW, on the contrary. I am doing this because I want SW:TOR to be amazing, I love so many aspects of this great game... but if this is not addressed it "will" die like every other one.
Why is this "so" important?! -- It is not Latency or FPS lag
From here on I will say 0.5 for emphasis but reality is 0.2, 0.3 (ANY) Ability Delay is unacceptable.
And here is the real problem. It is so important because MMO gaming has become so "tight", so competitive and so smooth (through WoW), that it is completely and absolutely unacceptable for an ability or animation to be delayed by 0.5 seconds.
0.5 seconds is a lot of time, to our visual cortex. 0.5 seconds is the difference between interrupting a CC of the enemy player or not (and thus being disadvantaged/dying). 0.5 seconds is the difference between landing a Taunt on the "add" that just came into the room and thus having it come to you or it one-shotting your healer and thus wiping on the Boss you've just spent 3 Days wiping to.
Zero Point Five Seconds is a ******* Long Time
Bioware, I plead that you dedicate as many resources as required (all if needed) to address this. You cannot cram story/companions/new flashpoints - operations... Class Balance into patches and hope that is good enough.
I hate to be a crazed doomsayer but I must state: Mark my words, if SW:TOR's Character Responsiveness and Ability Delay is not on par with WoW's by March-June it will be just another Rift.
Bioware, please see the importance of Character Responsiveness and Visual Stimulation of Ability Animation Correctness. It should be impossible for me to have an ability's cooldown activated without seeing it animate.... this is unacceptable. I just truly hope that this isn't a core coding issue or engine issue, because then we're f'd.
Notable Mention:
Thread 1 -- Page 133 -- Poster: ajjw
"In a game like WoW, if your previous spell's animation is still playing when you use your next spell, the old animation immediately ends and that of the new spell beings. However in TOR, if an animation is still playing, the game will not let you cast another spell, even if the cast time and GCD have already finished.
In other words, if a spell has a 2s cast time but a 2.5s animation, you'll be sat there looking stupid for 0.5s unable to cast anything after the first spell, whereas in WoW the last 0.5s of the old animation will be "clipped" (ie cut off) and you'll be able to cast a new spell immediately, the animation of which will also begin to play immediately."
WC3 Tournament Player WoW Tournament Player CS:S Tournament Player
Attended regionals and most MLG events from 2008-2010
Xcore: On a personal note, I value input like this a lot as this is someone with a very high understand of the intricacies of "Competitive Combat Design". I realize that the view may be a little "Hardcore" but nonetheless it is invaluable and coming from an individual that is perceiving the "Gameworld" at a higher level.
"Speaking from a professional gamer's standpoint, the game is simply unplayable. It is barely possible to outplay your opponents with a 2 second median reaction time. Olympic is .4, I'd settle for .8. It is hilarious how they were bragging about taking subscriptions away from World of Warcraft when anything in this game after the single player parts might as well have been made in 2003... by Blizzard, and then discarded so their game would actually be successful.
I can interrupt my own instant casts. There's at least a 1 second delay on every single one of my abilities(even instants not on the global) with a professional gaming computer and 3 MS. I live right down the road. You should hire me, throw away the Hero Engine and maybe we can fix your issues.
--
Say I'm CC'd by the door in Voidstar and I want to trinket to interrupt the cap - here we have a perfect example of how you've ripped off World of Warcraft almost to the letter with everything from the battleground style in this, "Warzone," to "Tenacity" AND it's cooldown, et al, holy moly.
So anyway, here I am playing a WoW clone, stunned by the door. I trinket(I am not going to call it Tenacity because it is a blatant rip off of World of Warcraft and it hasn't established a real name for itself.) Nothing happens. Nothing happens for almost an entire global. I am spamming Concussion Charge. At this point I have only casted Tenacity, which does not use my global and I have waited for 1.5 seconds. Finally, the game registers that I have casted my PvP trinket, takes the cooldown 2 seconds late, frees me from my CC and allows my Concussion Charge spam to activate the ability except I get knocked back, the UI tells me my instant cast ability was interrupted and my Resolve bar has already decayed to 75%.
There is no saying, "hehehe don't spam your abilities." There is no saying, "well I still like the game anyway!" There is no saying, "well if everyone has the same lag, it's balanced!""
Bioware Responses
Thread 2 -- Page 123 -- Georg Zoeller
"This issue is under active investigation.
The complication is that there are actually a number of different issues with very different causes and potential resolutions lumped together in this thread.
All we can say for now is 'we are actively working on the topic of character responsiveness'."
Georg "Observer" Zoeller Principal Lead Combat Designer
P.S.: It is not Latency or FPS Lag... also very important to understand
3) Fun.... I'd say not that bad. Difference being it lacks quality, polish and good game design choices.
4) Never needed a break as I took it very easy and knew what to expect.
I wouldn't use the term "really fun" ,i did have some enjoyment until around level 20 on each class.Everything felt the same from one to the next just a different region from good to evil side.
The responsive comment ,i don't understand because i have not played hardly a game that does not respond decently.
The reason i left the game was the combat just never improved,that is why i played until 20 or 22 around there in hopes i would see something that made it better.
I didn't like the combat either from my side or the AI.enemy.Sure it was ok but ok at best,nothing exciting ,just press a few icons on the hotbar and that was it.Aggro systems were super generic.
The so called story everyone keeps mentioning is way over played,i found it extremely bland,like there was a conspiracy in every quest to knock off my current boss or me.The choices in responses was minimal and really nothing more than maybe the odd fun choice but really never changed the game for me,it was just a cheap system to give points for picking the right choice.
Overall i found the game was just too average,that does not mean it was horrible,it just means it didn't do enough to warrant more of my time.The crafting i think was the real kicker,it was like it was barely completed then some time restraint forced them to turn it into an automatic feature where some bot magically goes on some hikes to gather/craft.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Let us know when you get past level 3, lets say 30 or 40, or better yet at 50 do restrictions bother you or not, is the game "best evah" or not...etc.
You sound like all those magazines that play for few hours and then judge the game while they dont encounter any real problems yet, because, BW also said it themselves...first couple of levels are most imporant. In TORs case first 10-12.
Oh, and let us know have you decided to pay 15/month+used cash shop since thats the goal of EA.
So I get free to play Star Wars for a laugh. Ive read all the rage here and I just want to see what its like.
I get in and man its really fun. I thought the combat was going to be press your button 100000 years later it responds but no its pretty responsive. Theres something fun about running around blasting things in the face or wielding a lightsaber. The combat is not that bad. The story quests are really good too I was having more fun with them then I though I would.
Then theres free to play I read all the stuff here and was preparing my defenses for the monetary onslaught that would be coming my way from EA! OOOHH SHIII- Oh wait.. whats this.. It doesnt seem that bad at all. I was scanning the shop for things that would piss me off or restrictions that I would send me reeling away at lightspeed. Nope. Most of the cash shop has useless crap I dont want. The only things that annoy me are credit restrictions and the quickbar thing like seriously EA give me my god forsaken quickbars. Otherwise I dont give a shit about anything else. I just want my co op story which ive got for free on every class. Honestly I cant see the nickle and diming.
Dungeons? meh I guess if you really care about them, flashpoints meh, mail meh, warzones meh, operations meh, space combat LOL, umm what else, titles id like but i can live, some character customisation whatever, the galactic trade network dont care why would i sit on the ah when im just for the story. Restrictions on companions i guess is annoying but i dont really care about them cause i like my blaster better. no epics dont care not in it for epics.
Feels like I got a new online/co-op kotor for free and just have to pay for all the extra stuff. Been playing with my friend who was subbed before and its fun doing the story with him. Hes having fun Im having fun. Its for free everybody wins.
I mean.... pewpew its star wars!
Call us back after about three or four weeks and let us know what you think then.
You can say this for about every MMO listed on this site by many,
You can say it for every single player game, but MMO not really - Every other MMO I have played there has always been a reason to keep returning to them, plus they have worlds where you can "live" in, especiallty SWG - that had infinite ciontent, depending on your level of imagination, the 32 professions and the deep crafting system gave you years of entertainment alone
SWTORs problem is they just sit on content, and do not do anything to add more, and the worlds are so stagnant it does not atract people to "live" in them
The 32 professions ahh those bissful 32 professions that always had a flavour of the month that where impossible to balance that made fighitng a naked joke in PVE or PVP with double stacking d0dge so you coudnt be hit, by becoming CM/RM, by stackin TK/dr right through to the day of the CU, and buffs oh my loveley buffs that people say created socialisation if standing in an hour long queue just to be abe to play is socialisation then offering zero challenge to any content.
I loved pre-cu but its time to take those rose tinted glasses off and what content lol, krayt/ns huting or space perhaps the occasional resource harvest.
Don't get ,e wrong I had a reason for killing those Krayt a i wanted to retain my name as the go to person for Krayt loots, I had a reason for the NS killing (searching for my sister) etc who I found when I unlocked her
So I get free to play Star Wars for a laugh. Ive read all the rage here and I just want to see what its like.
I get in and man its really fun. I thought the combat was going to be press your button 100000 years later it responds but no its pretty responsive. Theres something fun about running around blasting things in the face or wielding a lightsaber. The combat is not that bad. The story quests are really good too I was having more fun with them then I though I would.
Then theres free to play I read all the stuff here and was preparing my defenses for the monetary onslaught that would be coming my way from EA! OOOHH SHIII- Oh wait.. whats this.. It doesnt seem that bad at all. I was scanning the shop for things that would piss me off or restrictions that I would send me reeling away at lightspeed. Nope. Most of the cash shop has useless crap I dont want. The only things that annoy me are credit restrictions and the quickbar thing like seriously EA give me my god forsaken quickbars. Otherwise I dont give a shit about anything else. I just want my co op story which ive got for free on every class. Honestly I cant see the nickle and diming.
Dungeons? meh I guess if you really care about them, flashpoints meh, mail meh, warzones meh, operations meh, space combat LOL, umm what else, titles id like but i can live, some character customisation whatever, the galactic trade network dont care why would i sit on the ah when im just for the story. Restrictions on companions i guess is annoying but i dont really care about them cause i like my blaster better. no epics dont care not in it for epics.
Feels like I got a new online/co-op kotor for free and just have to pay for all the extra stuff. Been playing with my friend who was subbed before and its fun doing the story with him. Hes having fun Im having fun. Its for free everybody wins.
I mean.... pewpew its star wars!
i am enjoying it too .good for ya
I agree, especially as the OP has no intentions on paying anything. SWTOR needs more players like the OP so EA does not have enough money to keeo the game running!
So I get free to play Star Wars for a laugh. Ive read all the rage here and I just want to see what its like.
I get in and man its really fun. I thought the combat was going to be press your button 100000 years later it responds but no its pretty responsive. Theres something fun about running around blasting things in the face or wielding a lightsaber. The combat is not that bad. The story quests are really good too I was having more fun with them then I though I would.
Then theres free to play I read all the stuff here and was preparing my defenses for the monetary onslaught that would be coming my way from EA! OOOHH SHIII- Oh wait.. whats this.. It doesnt seem that bad at all. I was scanning the shop for things that would piss me off or restrictions that I would send me reeling away at lightspeed. Nope. Most of the cash shop has useless crap I dont want. The only things that annoy me are credit restrictions and the quickbar thing like seriously EA give me my god forsaken quickbars. Otherwise I dont give a shit about anything else. I just want my co op story which ive got for free on every class. Honestly I cant see the nickle and diming.
Dungeons? meh I guess if you really care about them, flashpoints meh, mail meh, warzones meh, operations meh, space combat LOL, umm what else, titles id like but i can live, some character customisation whatever, the galactic trade network dont care why would i sit on the ah when im just for the story. Restrictions on companions i guess is annoying but i dont really care about them cause i like my blaster better. no epics dont care not in it for epics.
Feels like I got a new online/co-op kotor for free and just have to pay for all the extra stuff. Been playing with my friend who was subbed before and its fun doing the story with him. Hes having fun Im having fun. Its for free everybody wins.
I mean.... pewpew its star wars!
Call us back after about three or four weeks and let us know what you think then.
While I liked the game I agree with the above statement.
Reason being that the game throws up unresonable obstacles to your enjoyment. Essentially the key enjoyment factor is the storyline quests, your pretty much moving towards seeing how the story unfolds as your primary motivation for playing. The problem is the game throws up endless boring grind missions to complete so your high enough level to see the next part. You don't really have a huge amount of choice in whether you do these or not as the XP isn't comparable in PVP or Space Missions, (which you wouldn't have access to anyway). You can argue that all MMO's have grind, but SWTOR does not mask it well or give you a variety of different tasks to do.
Couple that with the technical issues, rubber branding/major lag becomes an issue when your facing powerful enemies that need the right skill application at the right time and you routinely lag out at the wrong moment. It just seems unfair rather then challenging as it was suppose to be.
Thing is you won't really understand that till you play the game for a length of time, maybe around till lv30 depending on class, so I'd hold off calling off critics as completely without merrit. Of course there are those who just love to troll this game but it does have some major flaws which is why it's had to go F2P.
As for the CS, charging for a quickslot bar is a step too far IMO. It is setup to encourage you to sub, because if you can see yourself getting at least 3 month entertainment out of this it's worth it. Dungeons/PVP/Customisation, you will want to give that a go when you start getting bored of the endless, 'kill 20 Imperials/Sandpeople/EvilPostmen', quests.
I remember back when I felt just like the OP...for the most part. When the game first launched I was psyched to play something new in the Star Wars universe that wasn't a complete mess like SWG (which had some great gameplay systems in it). After a couple months I was getting pretty bored and at the 6 month mark I was completely bored and done with the game. The combat is decent enough for the traditional MMO combat, but pales in comparison to combat mechanics from MMO's like GW2 and TSW. The story elements start to get repetitive and wear thin when you have a never ending stream of "weapon of mass destruction" scenarios.
I came back to check out the F2P and it is meh, especially from the perspective of a previous subscriber. Compare the F2P setup of LotRO to SWTOR for previous subscribers and SWTOR's setup is poor. Also from a technical standpoint it seems like they haven't done squat to improve the client. Same crappy draw distance and I still have to run the game in windowed fullscreen mode because for some reason fullscreen mode runs like crap (never encountered this in any other game).
But may the Force be with SWTOR in it's future...it's gonna need it.
So I get free to play Star Wars for a laugh. Ive read all the rage here and I just want to see what its like.
I get in and man its really fun. I thought the combat was going to be press your button 100000 years later it responds but no its pretty responsive. Theres something fun about running around blasting things in the face or wielding a lightsaber. The combat is not that bad. The story quests are really good too I was having more fun with them then I though I would.
Then theres free to play I read all the stuff here and was preparing my defenses for the monetary onslaught that would be coming my way from EA! OOOHH SHIII- Oh wait.. whats this.. It doesnt seem that bad at all. I was scanning the shop for things that would piss me off or restrictions that I would send me reeling away at lightspeed. Nope. Most of the cash shop has useless crap I dont want. The only things that annoy me are credit restrictions and the quickbar thing like seriously EA give me my god forsaken quickbars. Otherwise I dont give a shit about anything else. I just want my co op story which ive got for free on every class. Honestly I cant see the nickle and diming.
Dungeons? meh I guess if you really care about them, flashpoints meh, mail meh, warzones meh, operations meh, space combat LOL, umm what else, titles id like but i can live, some character customisation whatever, the galactic trade network dont care why would i sit on the ah when im just for the story. Restrictions on companions i guess is annoying but i dont really care about them cause i like my blaster better. no epics dont care not in it for epics.
Feels like I got a new online/co-op kotor for free and just have to pay for all the extra stuff. Been playing with my friend who was subbed before and its fun doing the story with him. Hes having fun Im having fun. Its for free everybody wins.
I mean.... pewpew its star wars!
i am enjoying it too .good for ya
I agree, especially as the OP has no intentions on paying anything. SWTOR needs more players like the OP so EA does not have enough money to keeo the game running!
So I get free to play Star Wars for a laugh. Ive read all the rage here and I just want to see what its like.
I get in and man its really fun. I thought the combat was going to be press your button 100000 years later it responds but no its pretty responsive. Theres something fun about running around blasting things in the face or wielding a lightsaber. The combat is not that bad. The story quests are really good too I was having more fun with them then I though I would.
Then theres free to play I read all the stuff here and was preparing my defenses for the monetary onslaught that would be coming my way from EA! OOOHH SHIII- Oh wait.. whats this.. It doesnt seem that bad at all. I was scanning the shop for things that would piss me off or restrictions that I would send me reeling away at lightspeed. Nope. Most of the cash shop has useless crap I dont want. The only things that annoy me are credit restrictions and the quickbar thing like seriously EA give me my god forsaken quickbars. Otherwise I dont give a shit about anything else. I just want my co op story which ive got for free on every class. Honestly I cant see the nickle and diming.
Dungeons? meh I guess if you really care about them, flashpoints meh, mail meh, warzones meh, operations meh, space combat LOL, umm what else, titles id like but i can live, some character customisation whatever, the galactic trade network dont care why would i sit on the ah when im just for the story. Restrictions on companions i guess is annoying but i dont really care about them cause i like my blaster better. no epics dont care not in it for epics.
Feels like I got a new online/co-op kotor for free and just have to pay for all the extra stuff. Been playing with my friend who was subbed before and its fun doing the story with him. Hes having fun Im having fun. Its for free everybody wins.
I mean.... pewpew its star wars!
1) You didn't buy the game for full price
2) You haven't reached the point where the quickslot bar limitation becomes a problem
3) You haven't reached an endgame that doesn't warrant a sub
I bought the game because I really enjoyed the sith assasin story in the open beta. I didn't have a well informed opinion of the game until hitting the level cap
CE owner that's been (and still is) subscribed since launch and followed the game development before it was even officially anounced:
FrodoFragins is 100% right.
Now about the responsiveness the combat isn't right. You'll notice it as soon as you're doing some (serious?) PvP or play together next to a friend/husband/wife or do multiboxing.
The story gets old after the first planet for too many classes and it's the same scenarii on every each planet with slight differences.
Companions are required to play in solo mode unless you outlevel content, which is I must say prety easy.
Epics... well soon enough you'll care, trust me
Finally as you're saying SWTOR ain't a bad co-op game but it's far from a good one in a 2012 world or what it could have been.
Story gets old in anything. I've yet to play an MMO with a story that I didn't find boring after a while. Still, the story in TOR is leaps and bounds ahead of its predecessors.
I've actually never had an issue with the responsiveness in combat and I have pvp'ed quite a bit. But I have heard this brought up time and again.
It's a fun MMORPG but not nearly the epic game everyone was hoping for.
I've had a sub since early access and have just started playing again after a much needed break.
1) Story is supposedly what's sells TOR and well I was answerring to the above poster
2) Here's some detailed infos about ability delay: (source)
Note: Please, if you agree with these points and this subject, rate the thread. Perhaps this will raise Bioware's awareness. Anything we can do to make SW:TOR the best it can be because the truth is you and I are here because we want it to succeed and we see it's potential.
The game has been out long enough for the masses to finally realize the negatives. As people are getting out of the starting planets and the "new and shiny" feeling starts to subside, the cracks in this new wonderous world are becoming apparent.
Ability Delay and Character Responsiveness: -- It is not Latency or FPS Lag
I will attempt to discuss this issue and I will do so in a manner that I hope will make everyone understand it better. The "Character Responsiveness" for lack of a better term, is how "smooth" the game plays from your avatars perspective. I have played SWG and EQ to a lesser degree as well as Warhammer Online and several other MMOs and I must honestly say that Bioware has gotten this all too important aspect much better than any previous MMO that I have experienced (with the obvious exception, to which we will get soon).
You see, I really want you (The Reader) to understand the importance of this topic. To drive home "how" important this is. In fact I will say this: I am in no way shy to say that, the reason Warhammer Online, EQs, Rift, SWG etc. etc. could never "ever" get to anything near WoW subscriptions is the Character Responsiveness. All these games failed for many reasons, and a game "can" fail for many reasons and on many fronts but this single-one-category... is by "far" the #1 Reason why World of Warcraft is World of Warcraft.
Again, I must drive home the fact that no matter if you understand this issue or are new to the subject (and perhaps MMOs) or if you believe the game is fun and enjoyable and think that this is just a vocal minority piping up on something nonsensical. This is the undeniable truth and any game developer or serious gamer worth their salt will agree.
What is Character Responsiveness and Ability Delay? -- It is not Latency or FPS lag
It is the feeling of connection between the person behind the keyboard and the Avatar that is being controlled. Basically, the better the Character Responsiveness is, the smoother the Game Plays! You may HATE World of Warcraft and believe it is the worst abomination on the planet... that is fine. HOWEVER, you "must" objectively admit that it is the absolute, smoothest Character Responsiveness in a Western Available MMO ever.
If you are a WoW player, and have played WoW with any amount of skill, competitiveness, you cannot help but cringe when in a Warzone in SW:TOR. It feels unresponsive, frustrating... as if something is wrong with you! but there is nothing you can do about it!
If you have never played WoW, perhaps you come from SWG or EQ2 or Rift etc. that is fine! You are WELCOME in this thread, it is not WoW Players against the Rest! I just "need" you to understand that SW:TOR is "noticeably" and "objectively" bad in this crucial department. I am not writing this because I am trolling or because I love WoW, on the contrary. I am doing this because I want SW:TOR to be amazing, I love so many aspects of this great game... but if this is not addressed it "will" die like every other one.
Why is this "so" important?! -- It is not Latency or FPS lag
From here on I will say 0.5 for emphasis but reality is 0.2, 0.3 (ANY) Ability Delay is unacceptable.
And here is the real problem. It is so important because MMO gaming has become so "tight", so competitive and so smooth (through WoW), that it is completely and absolutely unacceptable for an ability or animation to be delayed by 0.5 seconds.
0.5 seconds is a lot of time, to our visual cortex. 0.5 seconds is the difference between interrupting a CC of the enemy player or not (and thus being disadvantaged/dying). 0.5 seconds is the difference between landing a Taunt on the "add" that just came into the room and thus having it come to you or it one-shotting your healer and thus wiping on the Boss you've just spent 3 Days wiping to.
Zero Point Five Seconds is a ******* Long Time
Bioware, I plead that you dedicate as many resources as required (all if needed) to address this. You cannot cram story/companions/new flashpoints - operations... Class Balance into patches and hope that is good enough.
I hate to be a crazed doomsayer but I must state: Mark my words, if SW:TOR's Character Responsiveness and Ability Delay is not on par with WoW's by March-June it will be just another Rift.
Bioware, please see the importance of Character Responsiveness and Visual Stimulation of Ability Animation Correctness. It should be impossible for me to have an ability's cooldown activated without seeing it animate.... this is unacceptable. I just truly hope that this isn't a core coding issue or engine issue, because then we're f'd.
Notable Mention:
Thread 1 -- Page 133 -- Poster: ajjw
"In a game like WoW, if your previous spell's animation is still playing when you use your next spell, the old animation immediately ends and that of the new spell beings. However in TOR, if an animation is still playing, the game will not let you cast another spell, even if the cast time and GCD have already finished.
In other words, if a spell has a 2s cast time but a 2.5s animation, you'll be sat there looking stupid for 0.5s unable to cast anything after the first spell, whereas in WoW the last 0.5s of the old animation will be "clipped" (ie cut off) and you'll be able to cast a new spell immediately, the animation of which will also begin to play immediately."
WC3 Tournament Player WoW Tournament Player CS:S Tournament Player
Attended regionals and most MLG events from 2008-2010
Xcore: On a personal note, I value input like this a lot as this is someone with a very high understand of the intricacies of "Competitive Combat Design". I realize that the view may be a little "Hardcore" but nonetheless it is invaluable and coming from an individual that is perceiving the "Gameworld" at a higher level.
"Speaking from a professional gamer's standpoint, the game is simply unplayable. It is barely possible to outplay your opponents with a 2 second median reaction time. Olympic is .4, I'd settle for .8. It is hilarious how they were bragging about taking subscriptions away from World of Warcraft when anything in this game after the single player parts might as well have been made in 2003... by Blizzard, and then discarded so their game would actually be successful.
I can interrupt my own instant casts. There's at least a 1 second delay on every single one of my abilities(even instants not on the global) with a professional gaming computer and 3 MS. I live right down the road. You should hire me, throw away the Hero Engine and maybe we can fix your issues.
--
Say I'm CC'd by the door in Voidstar and I want to trinket to interrupt the cap - here we have a perfect example of how you've ripped off World of Warcraft almost to the letter with everything from the battleground style in this, "Warzone," to "Tenacity" AND it's cooldown, et al, holy moly.
So anyway, here I am playing a WoW clone, stunned by the door. I trinket(I am not going to call it Tenacity because it is a blatant rip off of World of Warcraft and it hasn't established a real name for itself.) Nothing happens. Nothing happens for almost an entire global. I am spamming Concussion Charge. At this point I have only casted Tenacity, which does not use my global and I have waited for 1.5 seconds. Finally, the game registers that I have casted my PvP trinket, takes the cooldown 2 seconds late, frees me from my CC and allows my Concussion Charge spam to activate the ability except I get knocked back, the UI tells me my instant cast ability was interrupted and my Resolve bar has already decayed to 75%.
There is no saying, "hehehe don't spam your abilities." There is no saying, "well I still like the game anyway!" There is no saying, "well if everyone has the same lag, it's balanced!""
Bioware Responses
Thread 2 -- Page 123 -- Georg Zoeller
"This issue is under active investigation.
The complication is that there are actually a number of different issues with very different causes and potential resolutions lumped together in this thread.
All we can say for now is 'we are actively working on the topic of character responsiveness'."
Georg "Observer" Zoeller Principal Lead Combat Designer
P.S.: It is not Latency or FPS Lag... also very important to understand
3) Fun.... I'd say not that bad. Difference being it lacks quality, polish and good game design choices.
4) Never needed a break as I took it very easy and knew what to expect.
SWTOR Ability Delay Fixed after January 24th Patch
1) Story is supposedly what's sells TOR and well I was answerring to the above poster
2) Here's some detailed infos about ability delay: (source)
3) Fun.... I'd say not that bad. Difference being it lacks quality, polish and good game design choices.
4) Never needed a break as I took it very easy and knew what to expect.
1) Understood on the first point. But every selling point on any and all games gets boring after a while. Tera's combat. GW2's DEs. TSW's story. Etc, etc.
2) It was wholly unnecessary to post the details about the ability delay as I said I heard/read about it.
3) Fun/Not that bad/lacks quality, etc = all opinions; you can ask 1000 people and get varying answers every time. Unless someone can produce concrete evidence that the game is in fact "bad" or "good", it's all subjective. I, for one, like it. Could it be better? I think so. Is it as bad as many make it out to be? I don't think so.
1) Story is supposedly what's sells TOR and well I was answerring to the above poster
2) Here's some detailed infos about ability delay: (source)
3) Fun.... I'd say not that bad. Difference being it lacks quality, polish and good game design choices.
4) Never needed a break as I took it very easy and knew what to expect.
1) Understood on the first point. But every selling point on any and all games gets boring after a while. Tera's combat. GW2's DEs. TSW's story. Etc, etc.
2) It was wholly unnecessary to post the details about the ability delay as I said I heard/read about it.
3) Fun/Not that bad/lacks quality, etc = all opinions; you can ask 1000 people and get varying answers every time. Unless someone can produce concrete evidence that the game is in fact "bad" or "good", it's all subjective. I, for one, like it. Could it be better? I think so. Is it as bad as many make it out to be? I don't think so.
Quality? You are kidding right?
TOR is the apogee of uneven polishing and quality. While some parts of the game and engine really shines, too many of them are really lacking. It goes from the textures, through the UI, the combat... name it.
Compare TOR to Wow, Rift, even Lotro and then you'll see what quality means.
Comments
DAMNT! I need my free stuff! Moar free stuff!
CE owner that's been (and still is) subscribed since launch and followed the game development before it was even officially anounced:
FrodoFragins is 100% right.
Now about the responsiveness the combat isn't right. You'll notice it as soon as you're doing some (serious?) PvP or play together next to a friend/husband/wife or do multiboxing.
The story gets old after the first planet for too many classes and it's the same scenarii on every each planet with slight differences.
Companions are required to play in solo mode unless you outlevel content, which is I must say prety easy.
Epics... well soon enough you'll care, trust me
Finally as you're saying SWTOR ain't a bad co-op game but it's far from a good one in a 2012 world or what it could have been.
Types like the OP reminds me of those posters on SWTOR about pvp, and then they admit they only have a level 25-30 toon.
Conclusion is wait til you hit 50.
Oh boy, here we go with the SWG comparisons again.
I played SWG off an on for a bit. I saw it populated and then barren towards the end. The game was only as good as its population. All those cool sandbox features? Pretty useless when no players were around.
The point I was trying to make before you injected SWG into this...was that most people these days find a month's worth of satisfaction in an MMO, then leave.
This has been true for every release for as long as I can remember.
I remember when WoW came out, friends of mine from EQ2 complained how WoW sucked and they burned through it like nothing. I played for maybe 3 months. One of my longer sessions have been with EQ2. Had a lot of fun. Yet, I know some whom didnt even make a month.
I digress. It's called the month dropoff for a reason....most MMOs have trouble retaining players after the initial month or so.
You may be the exception to the rule, but as much as you dislike SWTOR and like to bring up everything awful about it, there's someone else who finds it so much much better than that buggy mess called SWG.
As for living in the game....yeah, SWG felt really lived in after the NGE. Haven't seen a more dead feeling world than that.
Story gets old in anything. I've yet to play an MMO with a story that I didn't find boring after a while. Still, the story in TOR is leaps and bounds ahead of its predecessors.
I've actually never had an issue with the responsiveness in combat and I have pvp'ed quite a bit. But I have heard this brought up time and again.
It's a fun MMORPG but not nearly the epic game everyone was hoping for.
I've had a sub since early access and have just started playing again after a much needed break.
OP, just enjoy the game and don't listen to other people complain. If you like it, that is all that matters.
9 out of 10 really bad MMORPGs are really fun the first few hours. Most decent MMORPGs become bad ones by mid level...and some good MMORPGs become crap by end game.
enjoy it, the first character playthrough is much fun. Even the second on other faction, ok.
But then... it's over, like KOTOR.
Damn I spent over 100$ on game+timecards back then, now I could have it all for free. Meh...
at least I got some coins i will save up for the space expansion, should it ever come
Secrets of Dragon?s Spine Trailer.. !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwT9cFVQCMw
Best MMOs ever played: Ultima, EvE, SW Galaxies, Age of Conan, The Secret World
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2X_SbZCHpc&t=21s
.
.
The Return of ELITE !
i am enjoying it too .good for ya
1) Story is supposedly what's sells TOR and well I was answerring to the above poster
2) Here's some detailed infos about ability delay: (source)
Hello,
Updated: 12-29-11' (This is Continuing Thread 2)
Original Thread: Thread 1 -- http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=84943
**BIOWARE RESPONSES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE THREAD**
Before you label me a Troll please read my Early Review here: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=76222
My Reflection of the entire Thread: 3000+ Replies (Read every single one), 120,000+ Views...http://www.swtor.com/community/showt...=95738&page=82
Other forums discussing this issue:
(MMO-Champion) http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...r-break-SW-TOR
Incredible Post on Rift Forums - MUST READ! http://forums.riftgame.com/rift-gene...back-long.html
Video Examples of the Discussed Subject
Thank You - Baznasty (Thread 1, Page 87) -- WoW Example/Contrast MUST SEE!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj6LD6H0ys8
Thank You - Sanchpanza (Thread 1, Page 123) -- TOR Example www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzP0xjNLyX4
Thank You - Samdbtto (Thread 1, Page 124) -- TOR Target Switch Responsiveness http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXlX5...1Xqqj_g-bLhNjO
Thank You - Badchx (Thread 1, Page 181) -- TOR Healing Issue MUST SEE!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7NIn...ature=youtu.be
Thank You - Devolution (Thread 1, Page 210) -- TOR Melee Ability Delay MUST SEE!:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwPT5...ature=youtu.be
Thank You - Hulduet (Thread 2, Page 89) -- TOR Ability Activation Timer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1T0OisXdew
Thank You - Badchx (Thread 2, Page 148) -- WoW/TOR Cast-Moving Responsiveness MUST SEE!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUQ1J...ature=youtu.be
Note: Please, if you agree with these points and this subject, rate the thread. Perhaps this will raise Bioware's awareness. Anything we can do to make SW:TOR the best it can be because the truth is you and I are here because we want it to succeed and we see it's potential.
The game has been out long enough for the masses to finally realize the negatives. As people are getting out of the starting planets and the "new and shiny" feeling starts to subside, the cracks in this new wonderous world are becoming apparent.
Ability Delay and Character Responsiveness: -- It is not Latency or FPS Lag
I will attempt to discuss this issue and I will do so in a manner that I hope will make everyone understand it better. The "Character Responsiveness" for lack of a better term, is how "smooth" the game plays from your avatars perspective. I have played SWG and EQ to a lesser degree as well as Warhammer Online and several other MMOs and I must honestly say that Bioware has gotten this all too important aspect much better than any previous MMO that I have experienced (with the obvious exception, to which we will get soon).
You see, I really want you (The Reader) to understand the importance of this topic. To drive home "how" important this is. In fact I will say this: I am in no way shy to say that, the reason Warhammer Online, EQs, Rift, SWG etc. etc. could never "ever" get to anything near WoW subscriptions is the Character Responsiveness. All these games failed for many reasons, and a game "can" fail for many reasons and on many fronts but this single-one-category... is by "far" the #1 Reason why World of Warcraft is World of Warcraft.
Again, I must drive home the fact that no matter if you understand this issue or are new to the subject (and perhaps MMOs) or if you believe the game is fun and enjoyable and think that this is just a vocal minority piping up on something nonsensical. This is the undeniable truth and any game developer or serious gamer worth their salt will agree.
What is Character Responsiveness and Ability Delay? -- It is not Latency or FPS lag
It is the feeling of connection between the person behind the keyboard and the Avatar that is being controlled. Basically, the better the Character Responsiveness is, the smoother the Game Plays! You may HATE World of Warcraft and believe it is the worst abomination on the planet... that is fine. HOWEVER, you "must" objectively admit that it is the absolute, smoothest Character Responsiveness in a Western Available MMO ever.
If you are a WoW player, and have played WoW with any amount of skill, competitiveness, you cannot help but cringe when in a Warzone in SW:TOR. It feels unresponsive, frustrating... as if something is wrong with you! but there is nothing you can do about it!
If you have never played WoW, perhaps you come from SWG or EQ2 or Rift etc. that is fine! You are WELCOME in this thread, it is not WoW Players against the Rest! I just "need" you to understand that SW:TOR is "noticeably" and "objectively" bad in this crucial department. I am not writing this because I am trolling or because I love WoW, on the contrary. I am doing this because I want SW:TOR to be amazing, I love so many aspects of this great game... but if this is not addressed it "will" die like every other one.
Why is this "so" important?! -- It is not Latency or FPS lag
From here on I will say 0.5 for emphasis but reality is 0.2, 0.3 (ANY) Ability Delay is unacceptable.
And here is the real problem. It is so important because MMO gaming has become so "tight", so competitive and so smooth (through WoW), that it is completely and absolutely unacceptable for an ability or animation to be delayed by 0.5 seconds.
0.5 seconds is a lot of time, to our visual cortex. 0.5 seconds is the difference between interrupting a CC of the enemy player or not (and thus being disadvantaged/dying). 0.5 seconds is the difference between landing a Taunt on the "add" that just came into the room and thus having it come to you or it one-shotting your healer and thus wiping on the Boss you've just spent 3 Days wiping to.
Zero Point Five Seconds is a ******* Long Time
Bioware, I plead that you dedicate as many resources as required (all if needed) to address this. You cannot cram story/companions/new flashpoints - operations... Class Balance into patches and hope that is good enough.
I hate to be a crazed doomsayer but I must state: Mark my words, if SW:TOR's Character Responsiveness and Ability Delay is not on par with WoW's by March-June it will be just another Rift.
Bioware, please see the importance of Character Responsiveness and Visual Stimulation of Ability Animation Correctness. It should be impossible for me to have an ability's cooldown activated without seeing it animate.... this is unacceptable. I just truly hope that this isn't a core coding issue or engine issue, because then we're f'd.
Notable Mention:
Thread 1 -- Page 133 -- Poster: ajjw
"In a game like WoW, if your previous spell's animation is still playing when you use your next spell, the old animation immediately ends and that of the new spell beings. However in TOR, if an animation is still playing, the game will not let you cast another spell, even if the cast time and GCD have already finished.
In other words, if a spell has a 2s cast time but a 2.5s animation, you'll be sat there looking stupid for 0.5s unable to cast anything after the first spell, whereas in WoW the last 0.5s of the old animation will be "clipped" (ie cut off) and you'll be able to cast a new spell immediately, the animation of which will also begin to play immediately."
Thread 2 -- Page 109 -- Poster: Reedful (Professional Gaming Experience)
His Proven Credentials: http://www.arenajunkies.com/user/174129-threatslol/
WC3 Tournament Player
WoW Tournament Player
CS:S Tournament Player
Attended regionals and most MLG events from 2008-2010
Xcore: On a personal note, I value input like this a lot as this is someone with a very high understand of the intricacies of "Competitive Combat Design". I realize that the view may be a little "Hardcore" but nonetheless it is invaluable and coming from an individual that is perceiving the "Gameworld" at a higher level.
"Speaking from a professional gamer's standpoint, the game is simply unplayable. It is barely possible to outplay your opponents with a 2 second median reaction time. Olympic is .4, I'd settle for .8. It is hilarious how they were bragging about taking subscriptions away from World of Warcraft when anything in this game after the single player parts might as well have been made in 2003... by Blizzard, and then discarded so their game would actually be successful.
I can interrupt my own instant casts. There's at least a 1 second delay on every single one of my abilities(even instants not on the global) with a professional gaming computer and 3 MS. I live right down the road. You should hire me, throw away the Hero Engine and maybe we can fix your issues.
--
Say I'm CC'd by the door in Voidstar and I want to trinket to interrupt the cap - here we have a perfect example of how you've ripped off World of Warcraft almost to the letter with everything from the battleground style in this, "Warzone," to "Tenacity" AND it's cooldown, et al, holy moly.
So anyway, here I am playing a WoW clone, stunned by the door. I trinket(I am not going to call it Tenacity because it is a blatant rip off of World of Warcraft and it hasn't established a real name for itself.) Nothing happens. Nothing happens for almost an entire global. I am spamming Concussion Charge. At this point I have only casted Tenacity, which does not use my global and I have waited for 1.5 seconds. Finally, the game registers that I have casted my PvP trinket, takes the cooldown 2 seconds late, frees me from my CC and allows my Concussion Charge spam to activate the ability except I get knocked back, the UI tells me my instant cast ability was interrupted and my Resolve bar has already decayed to 75%.
There is no saying, "hehehe don't spam your abilities." There is no saying, "well I still like the game anyway!" There is no saying, "well if everyone has the same lag, it's balanced!""
Bioware Responses
Thread 2 -- Page 123 -- Georg Zoeller
"This issue is under active investigation.
The complication is that there are actually a number of different issues with very different causes and potential resolutions lumped together in this thread.
All we can say for now is 'we are actively working on the topic of character responsiveness'."
Georg "Observer" Zoeller
Principal Lead Combat Designer
P.S.: It is not Latency or FPS Lag... also very important to understand
3) Fun.... I'd say not that bad. Difference being it lacks quality, polish and good game design choices.
4) Never needed a break as I took it very easy and knew what to expect.
I wouldn't use the term "really fun" ,i did have some enjoyment until around level 20 on each class.Everything felt the same from one to the next just a different region from good to evil side.
The responsive comment ,i don't understand because i have not played hardly a game that does not respond decently.
The reason i left the game was the combat just never improved,that is why i played until 20 or 22 around there in hopes i would see something that made it better.
I didn't like the combat either from my side or the AI.enemy.Sure it was ok but ok at best,nothing exciting ,just press a few icons on the hotbar and that was it.Aggro systems were super generic.
The so called story everyone keeps mentioning is way over played,i found it extremely bland,like there was a conspiracy in every quest to knock off my current boss or me.The choices in responses was minimal and really nothing more than maybe the odd fun choice but really never changed the game for me,it was just a cheap system to give points for picking the right choice.
Overall i found the game was just too average,that does not mean it was horrible,it just means it didn't do enough to warrant more of my time.The crafting i think was the real kicker,it was like it was barely completed then some time restraint forced them to turn it into an automatic feature where some bot magically goes on some hikes to gather/craft.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Ahhh, the honey-moon phase, aint it sweet
They expected you to pay 60+15/month for it
They still expect you to pay 60+15/month.
Let us know when you get past level 3, lets say 30 or 40, or better yet at 50 do restrictions bother you or not, is the game "best evah" or not...etc.
You sound like all those magazines that play for few hours and then judge the game while they dont encounter any real problems yet, because, BW also said it themselves...first couple of levels are most imporant. In TORs case first 10-12.
Oh, and let us know have you decided to pay 15/month+used cash shop since thats the goal of EA.
The 32 professions ahh those bissful 32 professions that always had a flavour of the month that where impossible to balance that made fighitng a naked joke in PVE or PVP with double stacking d0dge so you coudnt be hit, by becoming CM/RM, by stackin TK/dr right through to the day of the CU, and buffs oh my loveley buffs that people say created socialisation if standing in an hour long queue just to be abe to play is socialisation then offering zero challenge to any content.
I loved pre-cu but its time to take those rose tinted glasses off and what content lol, krayt/ns huting or space perhaps the occasional resource harvest.
Don't get ,e wrong I had a reason for killing those Krayt a i wanted to retain my name as the go to person for Krayt loots, I had a reason for the NS killing (searching for my sister) etc who I found when I unlocked her
I agree, especially as the OP has no intentions on paying anything. SWTOR needs more players like the OP so EA does not have enough money to keeo the game running!
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
Yes the game is really fun and I have played since launch.
The big problem is that so many listen to the butthurt haters and think the game is really bad when in fact it is not.
Have fun in SWTOR
While I liked the game I agree with the above statement.
Reason being that the game throws up unresonable obstacles to your enjoyment. Essentially the key enjoyment factor is the storyline quests, your pretty much moving towards seeing how the story unfolds as your primary motivation for playing. The problem is the game throws up endless boring grind missions to complete so your high enough level to see the next part. You don't really have a huge amount of choice in whether you do these or not as the XP isn't comparable in PVP or Space Missions, (which you wouldn't have access to anyway). You can argue that all MMO's have grind, but SWTOR does not mask it well or give you a variety of different tasks to do.
Couple that with the technical issues, rubber branding/major lag becomes an issue when your facing powerful enemies that need the right skill application at the right time and you routinely lag out at the wrong moment. It just seems unfair rather then challenging as it was suppose to be.
Thing is you won't really understand that till you play the game for a length of time, maybe around till lv30 depending on class, so I'd hold off calling off critics as completely without merrit. Of course there are those who just love to troll this game but it does have some major flaws which is why it's had to go F2P.
As for the CS, charging for a quickslot bar is a step too far IMO. It is setup to encourage you to sub, because if you can see yourself getting at least 3 month entertainment out of this it's worth it. Dungeons/PVP/Customisation, you will want to give that a go when you start getting bored of the endless, 'kill 20 Imperials/Sandpeople/EvilPostmen', quests.
Give it time and you'll see what we mean..
This looks like a job for....The Riviera Kid!
I remember back when I felt just like the OP...for the most part. When the game first launched I was psyched to play something new in the Star Wars universe that wasn't a complete mess like SWG (which had some great gameplay systems in it). After a couple months I was getting pretty bored and at the 6 month mark I was completely bored and done with the game. The combat is decent enough for the traditional MMO combat, but pales in comparison to combat mechanics from MMO's like GW2 and TSW. The story elements start to get repetitive and wear thin when you have a never ending stream of "weapon of mass destruction" scenarios.
I came back to check out the F2P and it is meh, especially from the perspective of a previous subscriber. Compare the F2P setup of LotRO to SWTOR for previous subscribers and SWTOR's setup is poor. Also from a technical standpoint it seems like they haven't done squat to improve the client. Same crappy draw distance and I still have to run the game in windowed fullscreen mode because for some reason fullscreen mode runs like crap (never encountered this in any other game).
But may the Force be with SWTOR in it's future...it's gonna need it.
No worry I am going to make up for this guy /grin
Sith Warrior - Story of Hate and Love http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxKrlwXt7Ao
Imperial Agent - Rise of Cipher Nine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBBj3eJWBvU&feature=youtu.be
Imperial Agent - Hunt for the Eagle Part 1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQqjYYU128E
SWTOR Ability Delay Fixed after January 24th Patch
Read more at http://www.swtorstrategies.com/2012/01/swtor-ability-delay-fixed-after-january-24th-patch.html#te0Gusmz0cQ7JL8i.99
All the video examples are dated before the patch.
Sith Warrior - Story of Hate and Love http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxKrlwXt7Ao
Imperial Agent - Rise of Cipher Nine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBBj3eJWBvU&feature=youtu.be
Imperial Agent - Hunt for the Eagle Part 1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQqjYYU128E
Wow, you are going to make up for ALL of these guys?
Oh yes, have i mentioned F2P was done in a way to just milk current subscribers? I think i might have once or twice
I don't feel I am milked. If anything I am willingly giving them my milk LOL.
My way of supporting the game I absolutely love.
Sith Warrior - Story of Hate and Love http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxKrlwXt7Ao
Imperial Agent - Rise of Cipher Nine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBBj3eJWBvU&feature=youtu.be
Imperial Agent - Hunt for the Eagle Part 1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQqjYYU128E
It's better but sadly it isn't and it's why the thread is still going on.
Especially the network synchronisation isn't fixed.
1) Understood on the first point. But every selling point on any and all games gets boring after a while. Tera's combat. GW2's DEs. TSW's story. Etc, etc.
2) It was wholly unnecessary to post the details about the ability delay as I said I heard/read about it.
3) Fun/Not that bad/lacks quality, etc = all opinions; you can ask 1000 people and get varying answers every time. Unless someone can produce concrete evidence that the game is in fact "bad" or "good", it's all subjective. I, for one, like it. Could it be better? I think so. Is it as bad as many make it out to be? I don't think so.
Quality? You are kidding right?
TOR is the apogee of uneven polishing and quality. While some parts of the game and engine really shines, too many of them are really lacking. It goes from the textures, through the UI, the combat... name it.
Compare TOR to Wow, Rift, even Lotro and then you'll see what quality means.