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The latest Star Wars: The Old Republic State of the Game letter has been posted on the official site. Executive Producer Jeff Hickman speaks briefly about what the team has accomplished, hints at a new special PvP zone incoming and then moves on to the hot topics the community has been discussing since the last SotG letter, including news about same gender romances for those who have been waiting so long.
Topic #2: World PvP – What happened to making Ilum better? What is going on with Open World PvP? Answer: We have not forgotten Ilum! I think you will see (fairly soon) the answer to this question in the game itself - something big is coming to the Western Ice Shelf, but it’s quite a departure from what was there before. As for pure Open World PvP…well, that’s a more difficult proposition. We are dedicated to providing excellent PvP experiences to our players, but we intend to focus our energy on PvP Seasons and new Warzones. We will be experimenting with a different approach to Open World PvP, something that encourages organic PvP in contested areas in a new and interesting way, but do not look for massive new Open World PvP this year (outside of what I mentioned above). It is still on our design wall, but is taking a back seat to other forms of PvP.
Read the full letter on the Star Wars: The Old Republic site.
Comments
Ilum is hardly World PvP.
World PvP is anywhere and everywhere. Other than sanctions to protect lowbies, there are no rules.
Ilum is Structured PvP. It's ultimately just a larger Warzone...but without even teams. BioWare Calling this World PvP is insulting. They just slapped something in to say they have it.
"but do not look for massive new Open World PvP this year"
Same with no free flight space combat. Basically, don't expect to see anything new for SWTOR this year. It is just more of the same.
Once I accepted SWTOR for what it is - a fun online co-op game with many MMO-like features - I was able to have fun with it.
I do know that SWTOR is not a Massive Multiplayer Online game - there will never be massive battles on the planets or in space. I enjoy the PVP it does have but I know this game will never be the long-term game I was hoping for. It will be a game I return for a few months when I get the itch and leave when the itch has been scratched.
I fully agree. Its casual play every now and then, not an immersing MMO.
"It's a sandbox, if you are not willing to create a castle then all you have is sand" - jtcgs
QFE. Which made it even more ridiculous when they scrapped it.
I wonder the same thing.
how to get ahead at EA
21 year MMO veteran
PvP Raid Leader
Lover of The Witcher & CD Projekt Red
As a current sub player, I'm happy with what was said.
Gdemami -
Informing people about your thoughts and impressions is not a review, it's a blog.
Also mentioned in Hickmans letter....SAME SEX MARRIAGE(to an npc) is being added to the game.
This is another reason why I will never play the game.
I doubt it's same sex marriage. I think it will be more like optional flirting dialogs etc. Easy to not choose if you really don't want to.
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
Exactly
Looking at: The Repopulation
Preordering: None
Playing: Random Games
Huh? What's the big deal with that?
I guess if you guys launched a letter-writing campaign to a political activist group like GLAAD, you could strongarm EA with threats to get your ideas in game too.
Sadly, there is not such a thing for normal gamers.
Sounds like a bad situation you guys are in. You know they'll keep asking for more (already are) which sets everything else in game further back. They have EA by the gonades now.
Plus, this whole RL issues thing in-game is a turn off. I play games to "get away" from the real world for short periods of time. I don't want to be hit on by dudes in RL, why would I want it in a Star Wars game? It would be an immersion breaker for me and kinda makes me sick to my stomach thinking about it.
Anyways, I would have liked to see what new content they will add and re-sub to try it out, but looks like that's not the case. People on the forums already asked for refunds on their pre-orders. Why they pre-ordered, is a mystery to me since they never released any information and you don't get anything for pre-ordering.
This was their last chance to turn the game around and they blew it IMO.
What I read was were getting one planet with 5 levels. The planet is supposed to be big, I bet the don't understand big. Were doing something with pvp your going to like it, I bet not. Were trying to do something with in game romance that I bet only a small percentage asked for that. They had a chance to look at all the feedback about what was wrong with the game to begin with and totally ignored it all.
"We don't want to put in same sex romances because it's tooooooo haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaard."
Funny I could have sworn these guys were paid to create games and as such are supposed to be considered professionals in game design. Bioware is a complete joke. There's no reason we should be paying a sub fee for this crap when TSW and GW2 are very successful as B2P MMOs.
Why, can't you trust yourself not to choose the flirt option if it is presented?
"It's a sandbox, if you are not willing to create a castle then all you have is sand" - jtcgs
~.~ Not sure what his problem with same sex marriage is, unless hes refering to it only in the game context in which case i agree. Biotards love to make every single character bi. -____- lazy programmers.
ummm.....
As a Gay Man myself, I actually do not wish to see any sex or romance in MMO's no matter if its straight, bi, gay, Transgender, hell even dogs doing each other up a side street, I come to play MMO's to get away from the hassles of relationships. I just dont think they have a place in the gaming commuity. If i want romance I can just go on Match.com, Plently of fish or Gaydar. One reason I gave up SWTOR was because I was making light choices and Mako was falling love with me, just because im a good guy
The "flirt" options just made me cringe, and thats not because im sexist or homophobic (possibly like like the person ive quoted above), it wasnt because I was flirting with a man, or a woman, but mainly because I just dont think these opinions have a place in the Gaming community, there are plenty of other forums/newsfeeds/websites to discuss this sort of stuff.
The expansion is going to be the nail in the game's coffin. A new planet with new levels and one new active ability for each class. Thats it. There are no operations, no flashpoints, no warzones, or space missions. Don't fool yourself. They may come in a content patch after. (which btw, will probably require owning the expansion in order to do) A level cap raise at this point is a bad idea for a list of reasons:
1) Seperates the free to play player base from the sub base - The player bases were already pretty far apart, this only seperates them further. This makes the free players that are normally an asset to the subscriber base no longer be one.
2) Potentially Invalidates old content - So you go from having end game content with flashpoints and operations to....not
3) Level scaling content - So they scale all the old content, while this seems like a solution it is not a good one. This makes everyone forced to level to see all the old content, has everyone level up just to see the same content, or the old content still stays at 50 but you can scale it to 55...which is very clunky. Try explaining to someone why they should buy an expansion when it means it only means doing the same stuff again when they hit max level.
4) Forces free players to buy the expansion in order to see future content patches
5) Forces sub players to buy an expansion in order to see future content patches - This is not an expansion. Its a content patch. Think of it like a giant daily quest hub that lets you level up to 55.
6) Sets a poor precedent - What will stop them from just adding more "expansions" that cost 10$ and 20$ (based on sub level) for a content patch