Unless you are the King of nothingness...

Where's your crown...

Where's your crown...

 

 

King Nothing?

/W\/\[KN]/\/W\

Right There.

even when they voice their concerns in an educated and polite fashion.

No one should ever encourage those people to leave. Sad thing is, they are few and far between making them difficult to identify. But, I wonder what path people should take when it becomes painfully obvious that the game developer just doesn't care to listen to or acknowledge their input. Where should they go? Who should they turn to?

No one should ever encourage those people to leave. Sad thing is, they are few and far between making them difficult to identify. But, I wonder what path people should take when it becomes painfully obvious that the game developer just doesn't care to listen to or acknowledge their input. Where should they go? Who should they turn to?

They turn to the forums to vent their frustration - that's why it's bull **** that you should criticize anyone for using the forums.

They turn to the forums to vent their frustration - that's why it's bull **** that you should criticize anyone for using the forums.

I don't criticize people for using the forums. I criticize complainers. But, as I am attempting to make amends to my trespasses, moving forward, I will be focusing more on the topic, and less on the attitude of the OP.

Well then, my apologies and I retract my previous statement. I am all for constructive feedback, and even from time to time, a legitimate complaint made in frustration. But when the same people, beat the same drums, and get the same response (none), maybe it is time for a new tactic, or a pause from the situation. I hate the idea of any game losing good people. The jerks are always free to leave imo. But when good people are never given things that make sense in the game, or for the good of the people supporting the game, what else is there to do?

Suggestion, because these types of people are on both sides, ignore them. I try to once it's clear it's just trolling. You don't need to of course, I'd just rather see these forums be less of a players vs players battle and more of a place to find ideas.

I don't criticize people for using the forums. I criticize complainers. But, as I am attempting to make amends to my trespasses, moving forward, I will be focusing more on the topic, and less on the attitude of the OP.

I couldn't ask for anything more

Very well then, let's discuss the issue. If you were able to sit down across the table from BW Devs tomorrow morning, and propose changes to the game, what would they be?

Tomorrow morning is kinda too late in my view. Right now the ship cannot avoid the iceberg of going 14 months with only GSF, 1 new WZ, tactical FPs, and strongholds being the new content. The damage will be done, and they will have to look at post-expansion to get back on track. To that end, what I would like them to do:

1. Release level 55 HM versions of Collicoid and Red Reaper ASAP.

2. Follow up with HM/NiM versions of other FPs. Battle of Ilum and False Emperor are great FPs, but there is no reason to run them any more. Give me level 55 NiM versions of those before the expansion.

3. Add 2 new objective-based WZs. There has been an ongoing conversation about possibilities, put them in action. Spice up the PvP queues a bit by cycling what WZs are available every couple of weeks. All of this may have to wait for the expansion, but see below.

4. Bring back the Chevin event in the fall and the original Rakghoul event with open-world PvP areas, missions, and rewards.

5. Start talking about the expansion/level cap increase. Commit to a date, and give us a hint about the planet. Confirm it will contain at least 10 new operations bosses, new hard and tactical FPs, WZs, new daily areas, etc.

6. Enhance the social aspects of the game. Let us have an opposite faction guild with shared guild chat and bank, and account-wide friend/ignore lists.

7. Add cross server queues, required for ranked PvP, and optional for unranked and PvE. I know this is hard, and not something they can probably even approach until after the expansion. But move it from the wall-of-crazy to the queue of stuff to do.

I'm going to finish with a change I've recognized that is incredibly positive and want to reinforce: communication and dialog about class balance changes. The discussions and circle of feedback directly with class developers going on in the PTS is amazing to see, and something I had given up hoping for. It is probably resulting in a bit more buffing than is entirely healthy, that needs to be dialed back, but the communication is revolutionary.

Take that same level of transparency and apply it across the entire game, and you can foster a bunch more good will.

Very well then, let's discuss the issue. If you were able to sit down across the table from BW Devs tomorrow morning, and propose changes to the game, what would they be?

Depends entirely on their available resources and what they plan for the rest of the year.

But in any case, its doubtful that there can be any changes at this point, they are very likely locked in on a tight development schedule for 3.0.

Its very likely will get one big or two smaller ops with the level cap raise anyway, so theyll have some breathing room in 2015 which they can use to offset the damage they did with their concept this year.

Id advise them to back to the old one raid every six month schedule, not counting nightmare modes. On top of that they should utilize all those older and tactical flashpoints by giving them not only an meaningless hardmode but a really challenging (Lost Island prenerf) nightmare mode with current gear drops.

This would increase the available challenging content enormously and energize last portions of the raiding community. I don’t blindly hate on pve bolster and tactical stuff, but for everything they release in that category they really need to offer serious players something as well. Its just totally crazy to build a flashpoint only to dump it so far down that most veterans will play it only a couple of times at best.

Furthermore they need to evaluate the feasibility of GSF style expansions. Those projects are great and all but its obvious they consume so much of their resources that the core game is suffering while they dont have a wide range appeal. We'll see if they can really make more money with Strongholds than with GSF to justifiy these Investments, but in my opinion their resources would be better utilized if they would scale it back to one big expansion each year.

Instead they should focus on fleshing out the existing content. It took them more than a year to develop GSF end they ended up with nothing more than a pvp shooter. But finally there are Guild Ships coming with Strongholds, so an obvious move would be to combine the too and introduce soem PvE content with the established GSF technology. Its actually so easy, pretty much every Pve mechanic they need is in their already...

Or something else, with the new event they are introducing Casino stuff - while i dont like it, the obvious move would be to build on that as well and finally give us Pazaak.

There are many smaller things they could do with what they already have or will have in the game in the near future.

How about Huttball maps for eaxmple? I dont know what the problem is with building a stupid map. They should be able the turn a knew one wout every couple of months, even if is just one guy fooling around with building blocks...

Also beating the dead horse, cross server Queues, more honest Information, what no fishing said.

What they cant afford to do again is waste an entire dev team on building something from scratch.

But I fear its more likely that we are looking at tactical ops and swoop racing in 2015…

Another factor to consider – and which we know nothing about – are EAs plans when it comes to Episode VII. I’m wont bet on this game surviving the relaunch. New Star Wars games are already in development and EA might very well pull the plug in favor of a game that is more in line with the direction the new movies are taking.

We’ll be seeing this fairly soon IMO, if EA is planning to keep Swtor around after Episode VII we will very likely see a massive influx of development power in 2015 which should result in a great 2016. If not the game will be done way before we see Episode VIII.

Tomorrow morning is kinda too late in my view. Right now the ship cannot avoid the iceberg of going 14 months with only GSF, 1 new WZ, tactical FPs, and strongholds being the new content. The damage will be done, and they will have to look at post-expansion to get back on track. To that end, what I would like them to do:

 

1. Release level 55 HM versions of Collicoid and Red Reaper ASAP.

 

2. Follow up with HM/NiM versions of other FPs. Battle of Ilum and False Emperor are great FPs, but there is no reason to run them any more. Give me level 55 NiM versions of those before the expansion.

 

3. Add 2 new objective-based WZs. There has been an ongoing conversation about possibilities, put them in action. Spice up the PvP queues a bit by cycling what WZs are available every couple of weeks. All of this may have to wait for the expansion, but see below.

 

4. Bring back the Chevin event in the fall and the original Rakghoul event with open-world PvP areas, missions, and rewards.

 

5. Start talking about the expansion/level cap increase. Commit to a date, and give us a hint about the planet. Confirm it will contain at least 10 new operations bosses, new hard and tactical FPs, WZs, new daily areas, etc.

 

6. Enhance the social aspects of the game. Let us have an opposite faction guild with shared guild chat and bank, and account-wide friend/ignore lists.

 

7. Add cross server queues, required for ranked PvP, and optional for unranked and PvE. I know this is hard, and not something they can probably even approach until after the expansion. But move it from the wall-of-crazy to the queue of stuff to do.

 

I'm going to finish with a change I've recognized that is incredibly positive and want to reinforce: communication and dialog about class balance changes. The discussions and circle of feedback directly with class developers going on in the PTS is amazing to see, and something I had given up hoping for. It is probably resulting in a bit more buffing than is entirely healthy, that needs to be dialed back, but the communication is revolutionary.

 

Take that same level of transparency and apply it across the entire game, and you can foster a bunch more good will.

Agreed, on all fronts. Also, I would love to see a Dev-run feedback thread in each category forum. Something they can let run on its own that gives players a spot where they KNOW their feedback will at least be acknowledged. It may take some time to get used to, but so far Eric and team seem to be good about popping in on hot topics and giving us feedback about their direction. This would be the same thing, but in reverse. We would pop in and let them know where WE are on certain things and what we might like to see. Not every post needs a response, but knowing your post is in a thread being at least SEEN by some yellow font makes things at least appear more comforting.

Depends entirely on their available resources and what they plan for the rest of the year.

But in any case, its doubtful that there can be any changes at this point, they are very likely locked in on a tight development schedule for 3.0.

Its very likely will get one big or two smaller ops with the level cap raise anyway, so theyll have some breathing room in 2015 which they can use to offset the damage they did with their concept this year.

 

Id advise them to back to the old one raid every six month schedule, not counting nightmare modes. On top of that they should utilize all those older and tactical flashpoints by giving them not only an meaningless hardmode but a really challenging (Lost Island prenerf) nightmare mode with current gear drops.

This would increase the available challenging content enormously and energize last portions of the raiding community. I don’t blindly hate on pve bolster and tactical stuff, but for everything they release in that category they really need to offer serious players something as well. Its just totally crazy to build a flashpoint only to dump it so far down that most veterans will play it only a couple of times at best.

 

Furthermore they need to evaluate the feasibility of GSF style expansions. Those projects are great and all but its obvious they consume so much of their resources that the core game is suffering while they dont have a wide range appeal. We'll see if they can really make more money with Strongholds than with GSF to justifiy these Investments, but in my opinion their resources would be better utilized if they would scale it back to one big expansion each year.

 

Instead they should focus on fleshing out the existing content. It took them more than a year to develop GSF end they ended up with nothing more than a pvp shooter. But finally there are Guild Ships coming with Strongholds, so an obvious move would be to combine the too and introduce soem PvE content with the established GSF technology. Its actually so easy, pretty much every Pve mechanic they need is in their already...

Or something else, with the new event they are introducing Casino stuff - while i dont like it, the obvious move would be to build on that as well and finally give us Pazaak.

There are many smaller things they could do with what they already have or will have in the game in the near future. They can afford not to waste an entire dev team on building something from scratch again.

But I fear its more likely that we are looking at tactical ops and swoop racing in 2015…

 

Another factor to consider – and which we know nothing about – are EAs plans when it comes to Episode VII. I’m wont bet on this game surviving the relaunch. New Star Wars games are already in development and EA might very well pull the plug in favor of a game that is more in line with the direction the new movies are taking.

We’ll be seeing this fairly soon IMO, if EA is planning to keep Swtor around after Episode VII we will very likely see a massive influx of development power in 2015 which should result in a great 2016. If not the game will be done way before we see Episode VIII.

All very good points. I would imagine after the launch of Episode VII, we will see a sizable influx of new players who leave the theater, head home, and roll a Jedi ... a dark Jedi just based on the story I remember. (too lazy to add spoiler) This would be the PERFECT time to run a few SWTOR commercials on TV for the game, and maybe even have a contest to give away 4 movie passes to go see Episode VII. Something like "Purchase an Annual Sub Pass and be entered to win!" or something. It would encourage subs and give current subs a little extra chance to go see the movie on BW!

Another factor to consider – and which we know nothing about – are EAs plans when it comes to Episode VII. I’m wont bet on this game surviving the relaunch. New Star Wars games are already in development and EA might very well pull the plug in favor of a game that is more in line with the direction the new movies are taking.

Oh god, I hadn't even thought of that. This game could end up going the way of SWG.

Oh god, I hadn't even thought of that. This game could end up going the way of SWG.

You mean ten years old and a rabid fan base that harken back to the "good old days"?

We should be so lucky.

Oh god, I hadn't even thought of that. This game could end up going the way of SWG.

I would be surprised of someone already had a replacement for this game already in development, but if they did, it would take some time to bring to market.

Wasn't it 3 years between the first public announcement of TOR and it's release?

I would be surprised of someone already had a replacement for this game already in development, but if they did, it would take some time to bring to market.

 

Wasn't it 3 years between the first public announcement of TOR and it's release?

Curious...

Who would you want to develop it? SOE? Blizzard? Arena Net? Bioware?

As much as Bioware has messed up with this game, I'd still prefer them over 2 of those names.

Oh god, I hadn't even thought of that. This game could end up going the way of SWG.

BW/EA has the license for another 8 years. TOR isn't going anywhere.

Curious...

 

Who would you want to develop it? SOE? Blizzard? Arena Net? Bioware?

 

As much as Bioware has messed up with this game, I'd still prefer them over 2 of those names.

Well apparently EA has Visceral working on some kind of "open world" Star Wars game, as of late last year. There is probably no cause for alarm, as even if it proceeds, it isn't going to the see the light of day for several more years. And "if it proceeds" is a big if, since game projects get cancelled all the time.

But still, it doesn't take much tinfoil to see the timing of LucasArts and Sony shutting down SWG vs the launch of this game, and wonder if it could happen again. Especially if it is in favor of another EA game.

Well apparently EA has Visceral working on some kind of "open world" Star Wars game, as of late last year. There is probably no cause for alarm, as even if it proceeds, it isn't going to the see the light of day for several more years. And "if it proceeds" is a big if, since game projects get cancelled all the time.

 

But still, it doesn't take much tinfoil to see the timing of LucasArts and Sony shutting down SWG vs the launch of this game, and wonder if it could happen again. Especially if it is in favor of another EA game.

an open world single player game isn't going to get TOR shut down, lol. is watch dogs going to kill TOR later this month? did GTA 5 kill TOR? no.

as for the people thinking EA is going to pull the plug on TOR to develop another SW MMO based on new movies, that is not going to happen. comparisons to what happened to SWG are just wishful thinking for the doom and gloom crowd. two totally different games and two totally different circumstances.

You mean ten years old and a rabid fan base that harken back to the "good old days"?

 

We should be so lucky.

While I wouldn't mind the game lasting eight years or so, I certainly hope we don't see people constantly whi-, I mean comparing future games to TOR. More often than not, I like to see the devs' vision of a game rather than try to enforce my own.

Well apparently EA has Visceral working on some kind of "open world" Star Wars game, as of late last year. There is probably no cause for alarm, as even if it proceeds, it isn't going to the see the light of day for several more years. And "if it proceeds" is a big if, since game projects get cancelled all the time.

 

But still, it doesn't take much tinfoil to see the timing of LucasArts and Sony shutting down SWG vs the launch of this game, and wonder if it could happen again. Especially if it is in favor of another EA game.

SOE didn't close the other Star Wars MMO(Star Wars Clone Wars Adventure) until just recently. I imagine it was more of an issue of the IP cost then any particular concern over a game with less than 5k subscribers being potential competition.

Despite WoTC's tabletop Star Wars game having no competition whatsoever, they shut it down simply because it wasn't making enough money.

an open world single player game isn't going to get TOR shut down, lol.

What makes you think it will be a single-player game?

But, points taken. I'll take my tin foil beanie off now.

What makes you think it will be a single-player game?

 

But, points taken. I'll take my tin foil beanie off now.

everything ive read points to it being a single player game. they didn't go out and hire a bunch of MMO devs to work on it, but have hired Amy Hennig to work on it. so yeah, safe bet it will be an open world action adventure single player game. although im sure it will have multiplayer modes as well.

everything ive read points to it being a single player game. they didn't go out and hire a bunch of MMO devs to work on it, but have hired Amy Hennig to work on it. so yeah, safe bet it will be an open world action adventure single player game. although im sure it will have multiplayer modes as well.

Because Visceral has been highly successful while working on those, I reckon? Because Amy Hennig came to prominence working on open-world games? Not really.

I wouldn't mind knowing where is this coming from.

Very well then, let's discuss the issue. If you were able to sit down across the table from BW Devs tomorrow morning, and propose changes to the game, what would they be?

Ohhhhh the possibilities... but I'll limit myself to core development.

I'd flat out tell them to quit trying the tease. You can get away with that if your population is excited but this is not the case for many people now. We've been begging them for solid info for many moons and they've been more miserly with details than Scrooge McDuck and his wallet. Nope, the "exciting new" and "something big" are just sounding like desperate marketing at this point.

The next thing I'd tell them is that they absolutely must step back and fix the cadence. Reserving multiple releases for a single aspect is KILLING them. This is an MMO and content is king. Ops, FPs, Warzones and now GSF need fresh content releases at a reasonable rate. As mentioned before, new modes of existing content does not count as "fresh".

Oops, there is one operational suggestion: Weekly server reboots. Even if there is no patch, the servers get bounced every Tuesday. I and many in my guild notice that the longer those servers go without a patch (and presumably a reboot) the flakier and buggier things get.

Ohhhhh the possibilities... but I'll limit myself to core development.

 

I'd flat out tell them to quit trying the tease. You can get away with that if your population is excited but this is not the case for many people now. We've been begging them for solid info for many moons and they've been more miserly with details than Scrooge McDuck and his wallet. Nope, the "exciting new" and "something big" are just sounding like desperate marketing at this point.

It certainly doesn't help when the "big" thing is largely underwhelming for players. PvP'ers are generally not whelmed by PvE content, and likewise PvE'ers do not find themselves encouraged by PvP content.

Just doing something like, we'll have a patch every six weeks, alternating PvE and PvP content (flashpoints, warzones), with a Operation difficulty every second PvE patch and every fourth general patch story content concerns. Or something.

Edit: Wait, that's twelve weeks between PvE/P patches, three months... quarter year... better than it is currently.