I never cared for DF, but always like to see an independent get some funding and the little guy make some $$$. Too bad there is a strong perception this was done through lies and falsehoods.

Dungeons should come in two flavors - open and instanced, and you should have to select that you want an instanced dungeon. Let the WOW lovers of the world play with their own five-man experience and have fun. I loved open dungeons in EQ, and had even more fun with them in DAOC. Instances are great for specific purposes, such as completing quest objectives, but they are an extremely anti-social experience. Dungeons should be fraught with mobs, "trains", and other players buffing, helping, and sometimes stealing your spawns. Give players an option - flexible design is always better.

I'm not sure why people still polarize on sandbox vs. themepark in every discussion. Of course sandbox games can be fun, it is the implementation that makes or breaks the game. Sandbox doesn't necessarily mean FFA PVP with full loot, anymore than it means that you have to be able to build your house with your bare hands to quality. It is a design umbrella, nothing more; a generalization of free-form vs. pre-destined.

Skyrim was a lot of fun, and has many sandbox qualities. There are some people who would sacrifice their combat abilities to specialize in crafting and enchanting, and they should be given that ability (and consequently be able to generate the best items in the game because of it).

The real "problem" with most sandbox games is the players. Any single person's experience is driven almost exclusively by how other people interact with them. For a person with a lot of friends/guildmates, this might be a very positive experience. For a loner trying to find their place, this could be the exact opposite.

Part of the problem isn't just the players, it is the way beta is managed by the development team as well. Most of the betas I have been invited to over the last few years have said, "Go ahead and play the game and see what doesn't work." This is very open-ended, non-focused testing and it is very easy for players to assume systems and mechanics are largely complete.

Years prior, I remember entering betas where they were conducted in phases which focused on functional testing of certain, specific aspects of the game. Sometimes this limited individuals to a certain race/class combination, sometimes a specific level range. This gave the feeling that the development team understood where certain systems were but needed dedicated feedback on other areas. This created a much more concentrated experience, and not just of the first 1-20 levels (which seems to be the common beta restriction today).

Improve the structure of your beta, and you will improve the feedback and buy-in of the players involved in it.

Originally posted by Sovrath

Originally posted by Gylfi

When was the last time you said proudly to a girl you just met at the bar "i play videogames!"

Would never do it in a million years. If they eventually find out then fine. ; )

In this brave new world, a large percentage of boys and girls around the college age all have play, or actively play, some type of video games. Whether it is MMOs, consoles, cell phone games, or just facebook games, you will find it hard-pressed to find someone in their 20s now who doesn't play something preriodically.

Should that be your pick up line? Of course not! Unless she is wearing a super mario t-shirt. :)

I played each of the previous betas in different geographical areas, this is at least the third (not including playing it with the Flagship dev team).

Originally posted by Volgore

Originally posted by Starwars001

With the hugely successful game companies like blizzard, bioware, I hope to see bethesda get into the MMO ring. 

I have a great confidence that they will make some type of successfull sandboxy game.

Hopefully Bethesda annonce something of the sort this year. 

I bet Bethesda is 10x more able to create a mmorpg than Bioware is.

Creating an MMO and knowing what "functionality" to provide, and how to implement, creates a very different dynamic than single-player games. That said, if game companies listened to what people complain most about at MMO launches (lack of guild functionality, poorly designed PVP, lack of content, more socialization aspects), and plan accordingly, I don't see why any company cannot release a halfway decent MMO.

Why is it a guild summit and not an open player summit? The equivalent of the SWTOR User Group?

Guild leaders are not the sole voice that is relevant here.

RG is a visionary, and was able to shape games from conception through to implementation better in previous years, before the MMO market turned into what it is today. Is he arrogant? He sure seems to be. At least he is the equivalent of a gaming Hall of Famer and has reasons for being so.

PVP just wasn't well-developed and was never intended as the strong-suit for the game. Adding open-world PVP was a bad idea, and the instanced games are as a fun diversion but are not intended as a core component of the game.

This IS a PVE game primarily; the Warzones and other PVP aspects are just not enough to make it anything other than that. I can imagine a huge PVP expansion in the future, but would personally (my preference) rank that behind expanded 50+ storylines for PVE, a "real"  Space flying/combat system, and additional social (non-combat) functionality.

This system quickly and effectively removes the "solo" player from the game. While many people may want that to happen, it also ensures the audience is smaller and as is the success of the game. There is nothing wrong with being a niche game though.

Only ultra-hardcore people are typically interested in these games, given the effort involved in building up characters and the possibility of starting certain aspects over from scratch.

I don't think this system is needed to make a good PVP game (land control objectives and rewards beyond silly trinkets/currency can do that effectively), but would agree that it does add a sense of danger to playing, to avoid death/being looted.

SWTOR was going to be a WOW killer.... and then it got high.

I'm still enjoying the game at a slow and steady pace, so regardless of what anyone else thinks, it is still the best MMORPG available today to me.

Originally posted by Tulark

Originally posted by winter

Still playing SW:tor somewhat causually (no more then 40 hours a  week)  still having fun.

 

Casual is 40 hours a week? That's like a 2nd job, bro.

Hah, I was thinking the same thing. I usually play 4-8 hours a week and consider that to be casual.

Originally posted by timtrack

Originally posted by nowrnvr

I had high hopes for this game but after playing it for one month I have to say this game fails on many levels

~ bgs ... huttball x 10,000 cough boring as hell, also if you win it might not count as a win as well as skills not working and freezing up ....so after playing for 3 hours tonight and 5 wins my quest is till not done :......:

~ I know this game was not based on pvp but having no objectives in pvp in ilum other than a quest or two and getting valor which atm has no worth ... also killing players at their gate over and over is not very challenging.

~ I do agree that the quest line was alot of fun but other than that doing hardmodes over and over can get pretty boring, if you want to lvl up alts you might have alot of fun but tbh this game imo needs alot more to keep it going.

~ the servers are not balanced at all and playing against your own side in bgs and doing three bgs over and over again boring...

~ I have to say battlegrounds for people who like pvp are very boring.... 

Did I mention boring ? =D

~ bottom line I'm waiting for guildwars 2 to come out ,  3 realms against each other with objectives and not having to wait for a tank or healer should be a real bonus :) the videos look awesome as well as some awesome classes to play !!!!!

 

That's 242 words.

242 words of complaining about PVP on a PVE game (that has light PVP elements). At least it wasn't a wall of text. :)

Originally posted by precious328

When someone mentions Sandbox, especially in a forum like WoW or SWTOR, people get so bent out of shape. Logic becomes polluted.

Many of the features that are missing from most modern games were once standard MMO mechanics: OPTIONAL SOCIAL TOOLS.

#1. The ability and meaning to adventure off the main road or story.

#2. Incentives to hangout in taverns and cantinas.

#3. Social games that are outside of combat, e.g., gambling, racing, arm wrestling, chess, etc.

#4. Player Housing / Guild Housing that can be customizable. A game like SWTOR is just too small to fit in World Housing. However, there is no excuse not to even entertain the idea of creating a few "vast & blank" planets that are player driven, e.g., being able to build houses next to friends - possibly uniting them into a simple player city.

#5. Player Shops for Crafters and Adventurers. If you're a fantastic crafter, then you should be able to plop down your very own store, purchase a NPC to manage the shop, and enjoy. Doing so should greatly lower the ultimate price one pays for buying in person as opposed to buying at the auction house.

#6. World PvP with meaning (worldly areas to dominate or control). Sanctions or Harsh Punishments placed on those who gank lowbies etc.

 

These are important social features and should be in every MMO. These features are OPTIONAL; these features will only increase the depth and complexity of a game. I still cannot believe AAA games shun such characteristics. They turn games from virtual worlds to gigantic co'op RPGs.

Fundamentally, I completely agree with you, especially the line I colored in red. #1 is likely the hardest to do effectively, but can be implemented in any number of different ways.

#5 needs to be better designed in general. I am conceptually ok with an auction house system but would much prefer a thriving economy for crafting and less about selling mass-produced wares and/or drops. In my mind, this is an area that could grow in leaps and bounds easily but does not factor in heavily into many game designs. Add in the ability for a crafted to make a super-enhanced version of an item once a month or comparable, that rivals if not equals the most epic of boss encounters. Make crafting a viable way to fame and fortune, and to generate the best items in the game (with a suitable amount of time investment, consigments, etc). Just as regular classes level up over time and gain new abilities, so should crafters and the ability to add special effects to weapons/armor/items (procs, visual effects, stats, etc). But I digress....

#6 should be so easy, yet just isn't done well in most games. Put these areas AWAY from "low level" areas to keep griefing to a minimum. Give bonuses to various parts of the game based on domination here that have nothing to do with fighting (such as giving bonuses to crafting, xp, etc), or even new dungeons/currency (a la Darkness Falls in DAOC). I'm not even a huge PVP person and I don't understand why this isn't done better yet.

#2/#3 are actually the ones I agree with the most. It is time to add social layers to the games beyond chat, with in-game leaderboards, prizes, etc. Integrate mini-games into the game, and also allow some of them to be played from the outside (website, facebook, mobile, etc).

Originally posted by Gibbonici

It's been posted many times before but it's no less true for it - Everything is awesome and nobody is happy.

 

I'm old enough to remember when games about massive alien invasions in a future Earth were represented by a letter O at the top of the screen that flickered around a bit while you controlled a percentage sign that sometimes shot an exclamation mark when you pressed a button. And that was awesome.

 

Now we have realistic looking worlds that we can play with people in countries that might as well have been other planets 30 years ago. And it SUCKS.

 

I'm not saying TOR is perfect, or that MMOs in general are some pinnacle of gaming that need to be worshipped, but  reading many of the posts on gaming forums and hearing some of the rage and hate that's directed at relatively trivial issues that will get fixed, or worse still, at games that said poster has no interest in playing at all, I marvel at how spoilt and puny we've become.

 

All these self-styled internet tough guys are infeasibly soft. God only knows what they'd be like if they ever got any actual hardship in their lives.

 

Man, I've wanted to say that for ages. Warn away mods, it'll be worth it just to have got that baby off my chest.

Do you feel better? :)

I don't think your comments are inflammatory and overall I agree with them. There is a huge sense of entitlement out there, and while a certain degree is understandable as we are paying customers for these services, it just doesn't make sense to me.

Imagine a world where people test drive a car, buy a car, and then rip apart the dealership that it is missing a feature (let's say heated seats). Can you drive a car without heated seats? Of course! Does the fact that other cars have heated seats mean the model you bought has to have them? Absolutely not. You test drove the car; it is what it is.

We benefit from MMOs being in a state of ongoing development, so we can help to guide the priorities of the dev teams as a community. That should not be taken for granted.

Originally posted by Doomedfox

I agree its plain stupid everyone knows that the hardware has no impact at all on games and everyone who is spending money to upgrade there PC is just wasting money a Pentium 133mhz is more than enough to play all games without probs and dont you let anyone tell you different they are just making up stuff....

I see what you did there.

This might be an issue related to threading and how the game handles data management between multiple cores. Signals for ability (GUI) execution may have been receiving lower priority than graphical/rending requirements and/or been tied into the same thread, so when the visuals spiked for any reason the GUI performance could suffer. This is pure speculation, but would then make sense why different architectures for multiple cores might contribute to this.

Originally posted by ghettobooste

I don't see myself not innovative enough to use a double negative in this post.

 

wtb Ewoks.

Ewoks would be innovating.

This entire thread is a waste of time. Let's focus as a community on what we want the devs to enhance (and why), and less about whether or not the game is/was/will be innovative.

These are the equivalent of easter eggs with a minor stat bonus, why does it matter what they make you do to get them?

I think this was a great idea, and the fact that they are "hard" to find/obtain in some instances is a positive, not a negative.

Just an FYI, at lvl 26 I haven't found a single one yet and don't notice the absence at all. I may go back and collect them at some point, but am casually going through the story now and in no hurry or need to min/max.

When MMO infrastructure embraces the cloud on a "massive" level and more of the gaming experience is calculated on servers instead of clients, this might be possible. Right now, I just don't think infrastructure can handle that level of calculation for even a small instanced zone.