Originally posted by Saerain

It's just wrong that the females can't even get their hands around the lightsaber hilts. I mean, sure, it's reminiscent of a common male fantasy, but still....

The handle looks still WAY too big. I agree. And no way I am EVER going to wear such a ridiculous hat like that Consular! WTF kind of cap is that? Radar like the cowl in Batman Arkham Asylum??

Originally posted by Anubisan

One of the things they mentioned in that article caught my attention:

"the questing doesn't yet compare well with what was shown of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm's new starting zones at BlizzCon"

What do they mean by this? How can fully voice-acted and highly scripted quests NOT compare well with WoW's quests? I can't imaging TOR's quests being anything but vastly superior... I guess we can only wait and see.

THAT is indeed a good question. How can TOR NOT be superior to WOW in every single aspect?? *__*

EDIT:

(quote)  "A lengthy set-up with a mad Sith Lord and his acolyte - whom you can choose to conspire with to betray the Lord, securing yourself two quest rewards and some bad karma - leads to a straight fetch-quest: go in the cavern, kill the beasts, bring me their brains. "

I KNEW IT! I TOLD YOU SO. hahaha!

Ok, I am kinda relieved such standard quests are there, since that makes grouping, normal MMO grouping, possible.

Originally posted by Xondar123

Originally posted by Cerion

DANA wrote:

" Bridge Officers provide players with a more iconic and complete Star Trek experience. Part of the fantasy is to be the Captain and while some out there would no doubt love to travel the galaxies in the role of Ship’s Doctor, that’s not exactly compelling gameplay for the average player.  "

Informative article over all, but then you had to take it down ten notches by parroting this over-used strawman argument.  First of all, no Ship's Doctor class/profession was ever developed, so how do you know if something is compelling or not if it wasn't even created?

You also say "part of the fantasy" is to be a Captain. Well 'part of the fantasy' is to run ones ship from an interior. Another 'part of the fantasy' is to have player crews. Cryptic, and journalists, have created this circular argument that is beyond frustrating. Without proof or evidence, its assumed that being a Captain is the ONLY part of the fantasy that matters.

Finally, "Bridge officers provide players with a more iconice and complete Star Trek experience..." More iconic than what? Not having them?  And if Iconic was so damn important, then Cryptic would have developed a system for player crews because that is even MORE Iconic.

 

 

Exactly.

I've seen fan pages devoted to Dr. Julian Bashir. I'm willing to bet that the fan who made that page would prefer to be like her hero rather than a captain. Why are all these people assuming that everone just loves the captains and wants to be one of them? What about all thev fans of Scotty or Data or Spock? They're being left out in the cold because people like Cryptic are making brash assumptions that really have no basis in reality. And that does not bode well for this game...

By heart I fully agree. I have many fav Trek characters who are NOT captains. I love Trek mostly for the crew interaction and I could not care less for space combat.

By brain however I wonder, what would someone as, say, Medic do all day? Be in sick bay and tend people? Or a  Chief Engeneer? Stand in engeneering all day & press buttons to raise warp efficiency? I admit I can't really see anything to do for such ideas. I can imagine however a part of the game which has some quests on board starships or space stations. I am as unhappy with the idea that the players are all captains, but truth be told, I cant really imagine a working concept otherwise.

Originally posted by Solude

No mention of the "solo book content" though =(

True. I was looking forward to that, esp. since with Myrkwood many gamers will drain out of Moria and book quests will be more difficult to get ppl for.

Originally posted by Jpizzle

 

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Originally posted by augustgrace

 

a generation that feels a great deal of entitlement.

---

anyone that pays $50 and $15 a month or some cases $200 (and until after 13 months) is entitled to bitch til their heart is content. If a business can't take the heat, get out of an already saturated pool and stop releasing half-thought-out, shallow games full of imbalance and broken promises. 
What you call "nerd rage" I call disgruntle consumer w/ no way to recoup lost money spent on something no where near where expectations where built up to.  The minute they offer me my $50 back, I'll never troll their game on any site again. Until then, it's buyer beware, and I'm making others aware.

 

Well said. Whilst I dont agree with every criticism against CO, it is not whinging when you paid something and then say this and that is not as you like or not working well because XYZ. Its the right of any customer.

Originally posted by Neolith8300

Probably going to get flamed for this, but... Would the Vulcans and Romulans be considered the elves and dark elves, respectively,  of Star Trek? Am I the only person that has ever thought about this?

My soul brother! YES!! I thought so for years and years myself!

Alas we WILL get flamed, teh.

Originally posted by Kryogenic

It seems as though it's unanimous. CO sucks and the next step is to shut down the servers.

The thing that is the most disheartening is that I was in the alpha, closed beta, and open beta testing phases of the game and they pressed on with change after change and pretty much ignored all of the tester feedback. I only recall a very slight minority who defended the game mechanics, gameplay, ect., and those that did defend it either completely gave up on the game or changed their tune when they started to see what the other testers were talking about.

Why ask for feedback if you aren't going to take it into consideration?

I love comics and video games, but I hate CO. Hopefully DCUO will deliver, if not there's always The Old Republic.

 

I miss old school SWG.

Sadly, I have to agree. I was only in late beta, but so many people made good suggestions and so many pointed to the many issues, but it was all ignored. In the last 2 weeks the game seemed to be on a good way, but now... Quite a missed opportunity and NONE of the changes of the last 2 months show me Cryptic has any idea what this game needs.

I still can see CO could be a quite good game. If they had not nerfed way too many powers. Like two days ago I wanted to make an Ice based toon, like I had in beta, only to realize now that the Ice Slide travel power sinks. Unlike every other flight based power like Disc or Rock or Fire Flight, when you stand on the Ice board, it sinks. Meaning you cant go away and grab a coffee or wait for a friend or what. It really sucks and its just so pointless to make it sink. Just one example of many those small details which totally drag down CO without any conveivable reason.

As to what is next... maybe Villain gameplay? I loved CoV more than CoH, actually, so I hope for that. That Cryptic can make wonderful zones you can see when you enter Monster Island or Lermuria. Why the bad zones Canada and Desert are in the beginning is beyond me. I don't like those zones, and Monster Island and Lemuria show they can do much better.

There is so much they would need to do, I can hardly see they really turn the tide of CO and the spiral is DOWN, alas.

Personally I always like Dark Elves more, because they are less ethereal and more hands on than the classic Wood Elves. I just don't like the Drow, the D&D depiction of Dark Elves, because esentially an evil society is absurd. It could not exist. I like the version of the Tamriel Dark Elves from Elder Scrolls. I still wait for the ideal Dark Elves in some story, a race which is a mix of Romulans and Klingons in Elvish, if you like. Warriors and moody beings, but not evil. (I am just a bit pissed about the racism in the idea all good Elves are blond and white skinned and dark skinned Elves are evil. Thats just rubbish.)

I like the Silmarillion age Tolkien Elves. They still had fire and power and will, they were great warriors and not whimsish Woodelves who pick flowers and hug treees, but deadly and dangerous foes.

What most authors and games fail to depict is that an Elf is something much different than merely a human with odd habits and pointy ears. An Elf is essentially an alien, a very powerful being who lives very long, and the only reason they are not perceived as dangerous is because they acquired some wisdom through the length of their lives. An Elf should always be something potentially very very dangerous and very good to have on your side, and not some mockey of tree-huggers and flower pickers.

I am not sure what niche is yet open in the Tolkien franchise?

SWTOR is possible because SWG by and large now failed. If SWG were a huge success, I highly doubt we would see SWTOR now. Same about LOTRO. I see LOTRO is as far as I see succesful, so I don't see room for another Tolkien based MMO. I myself can't imagine what that would be? What epoch? The distant past? The future? Who would want to play in such an unknown timeline? SWTOR is known from books and KOTOR games, but none of the other Tolkien times would be that known in the gaming scene.

I think LOTRO is good, but it indeed does leave much room to wanting. But not enough to make an entirely new Middle Earth Game. I just don't see that. The time of the LotR books is THE most known time through the books and the movies and the most people would not like to play in some other time. I just don' t really think that. Only in many many years ahead when LOTRO is old.

Many of my CO guildmates are lifers or 6-monthers and they haven't even gotten a single message from Cryptic about the closed beta. Quite a shame. It is this total lack of conversation which I find not right. I mean, there can always some issues happen, but then you can at least send all those people a mail to inform them about the ongoings.

Same with STO preorder in Europe. In most European countires it doesn't even exist! Most German retailers I phoned had not even heard of STO, and even the big Amazon of UK and Germany haven't even LISTED STO, let alone a pre-order option. There is a TWO WEEK old thread on the STO forums when there will be a European preorder and there isn't a single answer for two weeks, no even, we are working on it or something. Only when I made a relatively aggresive thread, they closed it and at least answered it will be available "soon" (tm).

Cryptic really has no idea how to handle things, it showed in the entire process of Champions, and it shows again. No matter what you think about their games, their PR handling is a catastrophe. No ads, no interviews in any of the German print mags, nada. You expect almost 2 months before release they are a bit more active in getting out the word, but no. Either they are so arrogant they think they don't need to advertise their game for Europeans or they are actually just to dumb to realize. Whoever is in charge of PR and handling f the info at Cryptic needs to be FIRED!

Originally posted by Odela

The sales report from EA listed TOR to be released the same quarter was Mass Effect 2.

I was just checking SWTOR on Amazon.de. It infuriates me without end that you can already rate and review a game that isn't even out! And people do it. TOR already has six ratings, each 5 stars. Thats hilarious!

Interesting. A shame STO on the other hand isn't even listed in Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.de.

Originally posted by Varny

Just gonna go round warning everyone lol.

Well, its 3000+ years too early. But you could etch prophecies of warning into the walls or somewhat. ^^

Or you stand at the street with a "THE END IS NIGH" sign in your hand and a long, wild beard. XD

Wow, looks scenic. I love the landscape. I sure make a holiday and some hiking in that woods! :)

Aww I loved the dancing and music making in SWG. ^^

Haha, seeing that Trooper on the Ginza, I guess it was there? That was cool.

Alas THE one good SWG footloose vid has been muted, curse you youtube, but this one yet remains:

www.youtube.com/watch

Out of game, this is still one of my fav dancing vids:

www.youtube.com/watch

Man, they made good music in the 80ies, when I was younger. XD

Originally posted by blackthornn

uh oh, time for the christian Luke = Jesus rants thereby proving the Rebels are always in the right, time to don the bible repellent.  Good work of fiction, I'd say first fantasy novel ever published :P

 

And for the record, yes, I'd rather live with clearly defined laws and punishments, where everyone has and knows his/her role as opposed to a backstabbing political machine where betrayal, treachery and such are hidden behind fluffy clouds of self effacing committee bullshit.  I'd rather live in a Sith controlled sector thanks.

 

"OMGZ NO, the Imperials blew up Aalderan...they're so evil, quick lets get revenge and blow up that space station that's dumped bazillions of credits into the labor market and is still mostly staffed by mechanics, welders, engineers and their families.....Viva La Rebellione"

What else do you expect from Heathens than the modern, fashionable moral relativism which makes our cities, schools and life so miserable, just to excuse their every whim and wantoness.

When you think a sort of Nazi Empire is without backstabbing you now NOTHING. Maybe you study the one Empire which came closest in RL to the Sith Empire, the Nazi Germany. Never was there more backstabbing, treachery and vile than there. Your idea an Empire of Order would be clear law and order, then you are gravely mistaken. People with rotten moral of a street thug are placed into position of power and execute them at wantoness for the sheer satisfaction of their sadism. There wasnt a single "Empire" in real history where life wasn't miserable and no matter what you did you always lived under grave danger of backstabbing. Even AS Sith in the fictional Sith Empire you'd be in danger every single second to be betrayed by another Sith. IS THAT a way you want to live? Under constant thread to be killed by your very ally just because he wants something you have? Thats disgusting.

It is the same moral nihilism which breeds criminals in our so called free west. When our streets are rampant with Anarchy and crime, when you dad or mom, your brother or sister, you son or daughter is killed by some warlord or crime lord, or some Nazi Dictator decides green eyed people are underlings who deserve death or some other arbitrary reason I think you will learn better. No. There is no alternative to ethic, to compassion. And that is not rooted in Christendom alone, but it is likely the most common ground to explain to most. It will be THIS moral nihilism which will be our doom.

Study Nazi Germany; there was NOTHING safe and orderly in it.

Behind your safe computers you can beat on your chest calling a Nazi Sith Empire good, but for me it's just Nerds who know nothing about the suffering under such rules, and the only excuse I can summon is the apparent lack of education which is written all over this. There is nothing cool or great in evil Empires.

Look closely. THAT is the underside of every "Empire": DONT LOOK AWAY!!!

Its just a long bla blah "we are all victims of the system" shit. I can't hear it anymore. SOME people make decisions, and it is not us gamers. I don't care rats ass if developers or managers or goddamn cleaning personell decides, but SOMEONE in those corporations makes decisions, and they are apparently not smarter than those who ran all those bankrupt banks.

I am not even pointing at myself, but in every single beta there were enough clever people who pointed at the issues long before and the companies and whoever responsible WITHIN those companies chose to ignore the warnings. Devs, managers, I don't care, but the truth was THERE.

Originally posted by Drachasor

Originally posted by Elikal

Good is a state of mind, one as clearly to see as the day when you are at it. There is no grey.

 

Luke: But how am I to know the good side from the bad?
Yoda: You will know... when you are calm, at peace, passive. A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack.

 

Just as evil is rooted in fear and hate, no matter how smart it may mask itself. Saying there is no clear good and evil IS evil, it is the first door opened, the first temptation to make one less observant and less careful. Once you start justify yourself as "hey, maybe there isn't good and evil at all", you started the first step. I am not speaking about social norms or historically grown values. Such things are humbug, not trivialities like is drinking evil or what. I am talking about mental mainframes. There are two and only two ways of founding your actions, one is good the other is bad. One is caring about the people around you the other is selfish not caring at all. I think that is quite simple. But what society and fashion call virtue has zero to do with that.

I have to disagree with this.  While good intent is nice, that doesn't mean you'll have good actions.  If you kill an innocent by accident, but had good intent, that doesn't change the vileness of the act.  Similarly, if you have evil intents, but your actions make the world a better place (perhaps you stop someone from doing something terrible, because it was in your own interest), then that doesn't make your actions evil.  Intent is nice for judging, in a way, what sort of person you are and how you might act in the future, but at the end of the day it is your behavior and the results of that behavior that really matter.  (Beyond that, I think there is certainly grey).
 

You mistake evil with unlawful. If I kill a man by accident it is against the law, but it is not evil.

The intent is EVERYTHING. There is a wonderful part in the New Testament, where Jesus explains, in the old days you broke the promise of marriage when you dated with another person (simply said), but he says, not when you break your marriage you commit a sin, but already when you think of another. It is the intent with makes good and evil. The action is what makes lawful and unlawful. Those are two different things. It is quite futile to mix those two up.

Back to the topic: again, would ANYONE here really prefer to live under a SIth Empire rather than the Republic? In this term it is really quite simple.

Quote:

"To this day, I maintain that PlanetSide was one of the best things that SOE ever released. But the market didn't understand it."

Sorry, but isn't that the same arrogant bollocks the politicians tell us. Our politics is good, if one the stupid masses would understand it? I didnt like Planetside, because I dont like PVP, and my guess is most people dont like it enough to center their entire gaming around it.

Companies and dev just DONT LISTEN. Sometimes the explanation just IS simple.

And as a second note, there are just WAAAY too many MMOs out there. At least half them has to close right away. Every dumbass company today thinks they can quickly tinker the next WOW together. I have seen enough MMOs fail due to reason the beta testers had said a damn long time before launch. I was in many betas, often a year before release, and I among many have said the expected issued over and over, and companies JUST DID NOT LISTEN.

Many TOLD Cryptic about the CO issues. Many TOLD about the expected Vanguard issues. The list is long. Tabula Rasa, PotBS, Dark & Light, WAR, AoC, I was in all those betas, I saw enough people saying what would be an issue, but the devs and companies preferred to listen to FANBOIS. They DAMMIT NEVER LISTEN. And I swear, the next time it will be the same again and again and again. Those devs prefer to listen to fanbois because that more comfortable and we who warn and critizise are always branded as trolls and haters, and in the end, we are right. Always. But do they learn. Nope. The story ends always in the damn same way, and god knows I wish just for once I would be wrong and my doomsaying would be a mistake.