Another interesting article, Isabelle. I lolled at "pseudo-Medieval plinkety-plink" to describe the music of most fantasy mmo's.
I've not felt any inclination so far to try the game mainly because despite enjoying the Star Wars movies when they first came out, and having a period of intense reading of science fiction in my teens and young adulthood (which is not to suggest I've "outgrown" it before anyone starts), for some reason sci fi games don't appeal to me. Can't put my finger on why exactly, but there it is.
Plus, I am currently enjoying playing WoW after a 2 year break. Been back for 3 months and can't believe how much I'm enjoying myself. I'm curious about TOR, and enjoy reading well-written articles about it, but currently not curious enough to try the game itself.
I won't be playing SWTOR for 10 years... or 5 years.. or even maybe 1 year. I'll be playing it when I want to play it, nothing more. Theres a lot out, and a lot on the horizon that I'm looking forward to playing, including expansionable content for SWTOR that will likely bring me back.
I don't see a game ever holding my attention for an extended period of time... consecutively, but if I like the game, I'll return.
+1. In the end what matters is that we have fun. 3 months, 3 years, who cares?
To each her own, but this trend bothers me. I'm looking for a game to settle in with for a few years. I'm not looking for a bunch of games to hop to and from (buying the box each time one launches, then resubbing each time I feel like playing again, plus possibly buying whatever expansions are out). It's too much money for too little enjoyment. I got solid entertainment value out of Anarchy Online, and even, let's be honest, out of WoW. While I love the idea of having more MMOs to choose from, the new trend in MMOs (buy it, play a month or at most two, then move on) provides little value or entertainment.
I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals.
no tiered pvp in warzones, no xp for kills on ilum, thats just total fail and i can't believe a dev sat down and approved this crap. just look at the videos on youtube of rival factions ignoring each other to do dailies on the open pvp world..complete and utter failure.
The UI is… less than stellar, and I’m being kind, but it mostly works and it’s not bad enough to put me off the game – and considering what a UI nerd I am, that’s saying something.
Without any disrespect, smply put the UI sucks.
For someone supposed to be a UI nerd I'm suprised you dare saying it works. It doesn't.
Even AoC UI is better and that's saying something.
Here's a few thing I noted, the first 3 being the biggest issues.
No scaling
Impossible to move frames around
Suboptimal quickslots management
No target of target
No transfer of target (I.e: target tank = heal tank + DPS target of tank)
No mouse over healing
Can't split stacks of items
Can't rearrange companions skills in its own quickslot
UI does not remembers you disabled quest tracker
Can't preview weapons
Launcher does not default the focus to the input boxes (user name if blank or password)
No codex toggle hotkey
No nameplates hotkey
No hide/show helmet hotkey
Can't select multiples entries on the planetary map (ie no vendor and trainer display at once)
Map borders, legend and mission trackers are still visible when faded out
On sub maps no indication whatsoever where you come from (exit)
CRTL left/right does not goes to the next word in chat
No scroll bar in the chat bar
No friend list player notes
Need 3 buttons hits to equip an item to a companion
Can't disable smart camera
No camera zoom speed slider
Can't zoom to do a closeup on the character due to a too big stepping
No camera preset bindings
Right clicking on items does not stack them in the bank automatically
Items in the Inventory does not display vendor prices
Can't queue crafting mission before or after items crafting
Can't queue missions
Total owned credits not displayed in crafting mission panel
Switching companions resets the scroll position of the crafting windows to the top
Crafting Missions pops-up automatically closes all open windows
Can't lock items in the inventory to prevent selling them
Can't open companion and character inventory at the same time
Can't dock chat bar at the bottom due to the companion UI
Yeah we've kind of noticed the MMORPG staff went nuts about SWTOR. That's pretty much all they bother to write about at the moment, if they find the time from playing.
Deewe, you can split stacks - shift-click and drag. But yeah, lots of room for improvement in the UI. The crafting mission pop-up issue ground my gears all through beta. I don;t know why it's still there.
I can appreciate some people being irritated by the fact that most of the staff here seem to love SWTOR, but give Isabelle her due, her articles are always well-written and cover both the rough and the smooth.
One correction though, there are only 8 storylines (saying *only* seems silly but anyway...) one per base class not one per advanced class.
My altoholism kicked in once I secured my legacy name. I'm now running a BH and Smuggler alongside my main. I only ever got to mid act 2 on the Republic side, plenty new for me to see there.
I have to say.I've had a similar experience.I've beed wandering around in the mmo desert for some time. Saw SWTOR and said no way. They haven't finished realm vs realm conflict.Well I broke down and bought the game and have been glued to my keyboard ever since.I play on a pvp server in hopes of tasting some enemy blood even if the game designers don't have a clue about persistent world 24/7 realm vs realm conflict.
Comments
Another interesting article, Isabelle. I lolled at "pseudo-Medieval plinkety-plink" to describe the music of most fantasy mmo's.
I've not felt any inclination so far to try the game mainly because despite enjoying the Star Wars movies when they first came out, and having a period of intense reading of science fiction in my teens and young adulthood (which is not to suggest I've "outgrown" it before anyone starts), for some reason sci fi games don't appeal to me. Can't put my finger on why exactly, but there it is.
Plus, I am currently enjoying playing WoW after a 2 year break. Been back for 3 months and can't believe how much I'm enjoying myself. I'm curious about TOR, and enjoy reading well-written articles about it, but currently not curious enough to try the game itself.
To each her own, but this trend bothers me. I'm looking for a game to settle in with for a few years. I'm not looking for a bunch of games to hop to and from (buying the box each time one launches, then resubbing each time I feel like playing again, plus possibly buying whatever expansions are out). It's too much money for too little enjoyment. I got solid entertainment value out of Anarchy Online, and even, let's be honest, out of WoW. While I love the idea of having more MMOs to choose from, the new trend in MMOs (buy it, play a month or at most two, then move on) provides little value or entertainment.
I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals.
~Albert Einstein
no tiered pvp in warzones, no xp for kills on ilum, thats just total fail and i can't believe a dev sat down and approved this crap. just look at the videos on youtube of rival factions ignoring each other to do dailies on the open pvp world..complete and utter failure.
Without any disrespect, smply put the UI sucks.
For someone supposed to be a UI nerd I'm suprised you dare saying it works. It doesn't.
Even AoC UI is better and that's saying something.
Here's a few thing I noted, the first 3 being the biggest issues.
No scaling
Impossible to move frames around
Suboptimal quickslots management
No target of target
No transfer of target (I.e: target tank = heal tank + DPS target of tank)
No mouse over healing
Can't split stacks of items
Can't rearrange companions skills in its own quickslot
UI does not remembers you disabled quest tracker
Can't preview weapons
Launcher does not default the focus to the input boxes (user name if blank or password)
No codex toggle hotkey
No nameplates hotkey
No hide/show helmet hotkey
Can't select multiples entries on the planetary map (ie no vendor and trainer display at once)
Map borders, legend and mission trackers are still visible when faded out
On sub maps no indication whatsoever where you come from (exit)
CRTL left/right does not goes to the next word in chat
No scroll bar in the chat bar
No friend list player notes
Need 3 buttons hits to equip an item to a companion
Can't disable smart camera
No camera zoom speed slider
Can't zoom to do a closeup on the character due to a too big stepping
No camera preset bindings
Right clicking on items does not stack them in the bank automatically
Items in the Inventory does not display vendor prices
Can't queue crafting mission before or after items crafting
Can't queue missions
Total owned credits not displayed in crafting mission panel
Switching companions resets the scroll position of the crafting windows to the top
Crafting Missions pops-up automatically closes all open windows
Can't lock items in the inventory to prevent selling them
Can't open companion and character inventory at the same time
Can't dock chat bar at the bottom due to the companion UI
Can't move Buffs out of the health bars
Can't hide characters and/or target round pic frame
Can't move/manage quickslots bars
Can't rebind CRTL to things like ventrilo due to conflict with non remappable functions
Can't browse through already known maps unless you are in the very same area.
No mouse look toggle
Can't hide the default system hot bar (@top)
Can't parse quests links in chat
So can we agree on the UI is bad, really bad?
Yeah we've kind of noticed the MMORPG staff went nuts about SWTOR. That's pretty much all they bother to write about at the moment, if they find the time from playing.
Deewe, you can split stacks - shift-click and drag. But yeah, lots of room for improvement in the UI. The crafting mission pop-up issue ground my gears all through beta. I don;t know why it's still there.
I can appreciate some people being irritated by the fact that most of the staff here seem to love SWTOR, but give Isabelle her due, her articles are always well-written and cover both the rough and the smooth.
One correction though, there are only 8 storylines (saying *only* seems silly but anyway...) one per base class not one per advanced class.
My altoholism kicked in once I secured my legacy name. I'm now running a BH and Smuggler alongside my main. I only ever got to mid act 2 on the Republic side, plenty new for me to see there.
I find it odd that you would include this line:
"And while I’m not advising anyone whether to buy the game or not ..."
In the same article as these two lines:
"Besides – you shouldn’t be lambasting, you should be playing SW:TOR."
"... I definitely recommend giving it a try"
You're very clearly advising and suggesting people play the game, yet claiming you're not.
Peculiar.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
What a great sequel to the KOTOR franchise!
Error: 37. Signature not found. Please connect to my server for signature access.
Ya, its pretty lame and sometimes frustrating, but I'm still enjoying the game
Isabelle Parsley
I have to say.I've had a similar experience.I've beed wandering around in the mmo desert for some time. Saw SWTOR and said no way. They haven't finished realm vs realm conflict.Well I broke down and bought the game and have been glued to my keyboard ever since.I play on a pvp server in hopes of tasting some enemy blood even if the game designers don't have a clue about persistent world 24/7 realm vs realm conflict.
And I hope.
Umm, Bioware does... having most players leave after 3 months would be disastrous for them.
That speaks volumes doesn't it?
toggle music: ctrl+M
I'll give it a try - about 2 years since I played anything - have the collector's
edition and will be joining next month - beware, Voltairre.