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Diling-Hiling

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  1. Hello everyone. I would like to start a discussion on the current design of abilities in SW:TOR. More precisely on the reasons they got designed this way, what alternatives might have been a better choice and why. Let me start in stating the current situation. The character starts with a basic set of abilities with level 1. With almost every levelup the player gets access to new abilites until around level 50 he reaches approximately 30 abilities in total. What are the intentions of this system? Slowly increasing complexity. Because most players would be overwhelmed with 30 abilities at start, they slowly build up. Gratification at level-up. The player feels he actually achieved something by getting access to new abilities. A versatile gaming experience. Once level 50 is reached they achieve a versatile gaming experience by supplying a lot of different abilities. Offering game complexity. A lot of abilities means a lot of options resulting in a complex gaming experience. A known and accepted system. Especially experimenting with a core aspect as abilites can break a game. Using a commonly accepted architecture is simply playing it safe. What are the probably unintended side effects? Defining the gaming experience through abilities shifts the focus of the game toward the abilities. This results in the effects many people describe as "staring at cooldowns". Required game complexity. Complexity can be good and bad, depending on the person you ask. The ability system is always there and therefore can not be "deactivated" for friends of simpler gaming. User requirements. The current ability system is not friendly to handicaped users. Many buttons (and many shortcuts) require good hand to eye coordination. What alternative system do you suggest? I suggest adapting the current system in limiting the abilites the player can wield at one time. During leveling and maybe as quest rewards, the player gets more and more abilities to choose from. Out of combat, he can select up to 6 (exemplary) abilities he can use in comign fight. In my oppinion, this would negate most of the negative aspects above. Furthermore it would give the game a new aspect of "collecting all the abilities there are". reduce the focus on the abilities, giving the player the chance to actually see the game around them. As a result the game could implement more unique features in fights. Movement, puzzles, etc. I am very well aware that changes like the ones stated above can not be made anymore. But I am honestly convinced that the ability system of TOR and (most) of the MMOs before is simply outdated and it is time for a next generation character control system. So, what do you think could be the controls of the true next generation MMO to come?
  2. For me, it is not about the money. It is about two things: (1) Time. My time is much more valuable than the 15 bugs I have to spend on the game. I can subscribe 10 games at once, but only play one with the time I have. (2) Power. Paying for this game means power over this game. If they do something I don't like, the only way I can kick them in the butts is by not paying anymore. This is also the reason why I can't understand people with subscription length > 1 month. This way you give away the little power you acualy have as customer these days.
  3. I lol'd hard Now that you guys bring my attention to this.. I really hated it, when that happens. Just never thought about it.
  4. Yeah! Its common sense to destroy all good things to avoid some bad ones! YAY! Honestly, I think MMOs are not your type of game.. so, you are right here. I might be wrong.
  5. I am still undecided. My free month ends in 8 days and i have yet to level from 44 to 50. Hopefully I'll get a sufficient preview of endgame before I have to decide. However I am a single character guy. I never before played more than one and won't begin with it now. Furthermore I do get bored very fast. I can do 3 space battles, then I'm bored. I can do three Flashpoints, then I'm bored. Only way to keep me, is offering me a lot different stuff I can switch through whenever I'm bored. I'm not 50 yet, so I can't say if Bioware succeeds in keeping me entertained.
  6. Your attitude is neither helping the game, nor the community. I like the game too, but I don't diminish everyone who does not.
  7. Making the game free to play sounds a little bit extreme. Maybe instead make a special offer "3 month for the price of one". This way there would not be bad publicity. It would also keep players subscribed.
  8. This leveling apart is a real problem in all current MMOs. Why can't one of these games introduce a system to "link" two or more characters? This way, whenever one player gains experience, this experience is equally shared among all linked characters. So simple and so efficient, but no-one implements it
  9. (1) Remove shards (2) Cancel voice acting for side quests (3) Set the minimum requirements to "way above average system" until the responsiveness problem is fixed. (below 35 fps i can only use every second gcd) (4) Find a better release concept for bug fixes. Introduce 2 fix days per week with patch server downs. (Monday and Thursday). Later on announce in great letters, that server downs for bug fixing will be limited to one day a week. (Gives interested people a sign of "oh, game seems good enough now!") (5) Build up "public relations" team and train all employees with customer contact accordingly. A lot of trouble could simply be evaded by acting smarter to public. (6) Combine smaller zones to reduce amount of loading screens. (7) Set up a constant development tracker with all ongoing activities for the public to see. (8) Add more Grind to max level FAST. Other content would take too long. Something like a purely time based pvp ranking. (9) Convince EA to keep faith (10) No, really. Convince EA to keep faith. (11) Add a few open worlds (sand box worlds) to ease the general feeling of limitation (theme park feeling) in the rest of the game.
  10. There are already solutions to achieve this. Just try googling it.
  11. My opinion: Yes. It should be integrated into the game environment. Really nice, with pie charts and stuff. And direct character comparison. But! Two rules should apply. (1) In order to see another person in the chart, that person has to give an authorization. Like the check box for allowing other people to join your story areas. (2) Within groups, only the leader is able to open these statistics. He is then able to forward them to other people.
  12. I lol'd. But nice to see it is back.
  13. Fair point - if it is story relevant, it is story relevant! But the stations are tiny compared to the world below, why not simply combining it into one zone and only add one of those elevator black screens in between?
  14. I'm having a fairly good system (yes, with ssd) and get loading times up to 15 seconds. Although it does rip me out of my game sometimes, I can live with it. But what startled me up is how often these screens exist without any sense at all. I mean, why are there space stations above some planets that are simply empty? You travel to the space station <loading screen> down an elevator <black screen> run through the corridor to the landing drop ship <loading screen> then you are there. This empty space station has no meaning what so ever. Not even in the story. And that was just one example. In short: They could streamline the amount of zones with loading screens a lot without any influence on story or anything else.
  15. So, you have no proof of anything. I have no proof of anything. But at least, I did not get personal about this. But having (a) 1.5 million (b) new players in © less than 3 weeks that are theoretically (d) willing to pay? Proof me this kind of player win by any means other than a release and I will drawback my previous statement.
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