Which is exactly why they shouldnt change it. The core design is what most of us like. Change that and people might jump ship. Why not ask for reasonable changes that are possible? Also UO had housing etc long before SWG. Also EQ2 has awesome housing.

Doing any of the majority of stuff people are suggesting that you say is swg would not alter the core design of the game, the combat system wouldnt change, the game world wouldnt change, player housing they could throw up either empty planets designed for it and keep it seperate from the pve and pvp content areas or just wait for space and let them build bases in asteroids. Even rift has done player housing now.

And i highly doubt people would jump ship cos they got aditional options of gameplay, they would jump ship if it adversly impacted on the gameplay we have now but how would housing do that exactly. I would bet most of the people who complain about 'dont copy swg' would jump through hoops and have biowares babys if they could have guildhalls and customizable guild ships.

Even social classes wouldnt do anything or impact on the game apart from draw in more roleplayers. what else is there really that people would want from swg that isnt already here or been stated as coming.

I didn’t say it would be a successful strategy, It’s just the only path I can see them taking or even being fiscally possible. The game is tilted too far in the direction of giving the disenfranchised WoW player a home to swing it in any other direction now.

If they will continue to just follow gear grind treadmill WoW clone path and not adapt to the new times in the MMO market and add new features to this game they will lose a lot of subs like my when new games will be released which will be able to do what ppl are asking for and that is have a good mix of themepark and sandbox features which would turn this game into better one , without gaining much of the WoW subs because WoW players will stick with WoW which will keep this game in the long run in vacuum and this game will just continue to stagnate.

If they will continue to just follow gear grind treadmill WoW clone path and not adapt to the new times in the MMO market and add new features to this game they will lose a lot of subs like my when new games will be released which will be able to do what ppl are asking for and that is have a good mix of themepark and sandbox features which would turn this game into better one , without gaining much of the WoW subs because WoW players will stick with WoW which will keep this game in the long run in vacuum and this game will just continue to stagnate.

I agree with this, they need to think outside of the box, the market is saturated with the same mmo with different names but basically the same content and only the ip being the real difference between them. I think we will see a flood of ex wow players once mop hits cos as it stands most of the playerbase will have actually played mop before its even released and are just stuck in an annual pass and when it does come out there is gonna be one hell of a content draught there for peeps who played most of mop already.

If this was WoW 2.0 I would still be subbed, this is WoW .6 at best

The game isn't bad per-se... oh who am I fooling, it's even worse.. I mean 95% of the mobs in this game just stand there completely unscripted just stupidly waiting for you to come mow them down.

Ever played on one of those WoW private servers, where they pirated the software and everything is still unscripted and the mobs don't move and the entire environment is static - TOR is just like that. Who on their management team thought this would be acceptable in 2012!?

I mean how can you be that oblivious and yet be handed allegedly hundreds of millions of dollars to create an MMO!? It's really beyond incompetence... if this was anything other than intentional industrial sabotage I really weep for humanity...

There are a few problems that will never allow this game to be great.

First - PvP gear - The only thing it does is gate PvP for newer players and ruins the experianc for people who want to play PvP from time to time.

Second - Content has little to no challenge. MMOs were built on people playing one character for YEARS, and it takes months to years of work to get your character to be the best of the best both in terms of how long it takes to be a good player and to get the best gear. In SWTOR you can get BIS everything in little more then a week played.

Third - Immersion is non exsistant. Going to a place like tatooine and never seeign a sandstorm, or going to a cantine and NOTHING moving. The game does not feel alive. The lack of day/night/weather cycles does not help that.

Characters - The star wars IP has some of the most loved and unique races in all of Sci-fi yet we don't get to play as any of them. I can;t tell you how sad i was when i found out you cannot be togruta. On top of that you have 4 body types, which means EVERYONE ends up looking mostly the same, no smaller characters only anorexic cheerleaders and sumos with a 6 pack...

For everything that has advanced in the MMO genre EA seems to of taken it a decade back in time. WoW launched in 2004 and had slightly less options.

There is nothing wrong with coping aspects of other video games, hell blizzard has never done anything unique, however they took what was BEST in other games, EA seems to of taken the worst of other games.

SWTOR can become a great game, but i do not think EA will allow it to happen.

Doing any of the majority of stuff people are suggesting that you say is swg would not alter the core design of the game, the combat system wouldnt change, the game world wouldnt change, player housing they could throw up either empty planets designed for it and keep it seperate from the pve and pvp content areas or just wait for space and let them build bases in asteroids. Even rift has done player housing now.

 

And i highly doubt people would jump ship cos they got aditional options of gameplay, they would jump ship if it adversly impacted on the gameplay we have now but how would housing do that exactly. I would bet most of the people who complain about 'dont copy swg' would jump through hoops and have biowares babys if they could have guildhalls and customizable guild ships.

 

Even social classes wouldnt do anything or impact on the game apart from draw in more roleplayers. what else is there really that people would want from swg that isnt already here or been stated as coming.

Sorry but I would much rather they put the money into more stories, planets etc. It would look rather goofy to have hoth covered in houses like some trailer park planet. I like the game the way it is for the most part. A lot of people left also like it. In my opinion they should concentrate on making new quests, gear, ops etc. Sandbox stuff there are tons of games if you like that kind of stuff. I dont want to garden or decorate a house.

Sorry but I would much rather they put the money into more stories, planets etc. It would look rather goofy to have hoth covered in houses like some trailer park planet. I like the game the way it is for the most part. A lot of people left also like it. In my opinion they should concentrate on making new quests, gear, ops etc. Sandbox stuff there are tons of games if you like that kind of stuff. I dont want to garden or decorate a house.

You might but here is the thing, they can put money into both. im not stating that doing one would deprive people of the other. When space is done i dont see that being touched for a long time. Adding more features brings in more people for those features, that generates more subscriptions meaning that there is more money to create even more content. ps thats one thing that always narked me about wow, the money they had wow at this moment should be a golden palace of content and have the path of the titans they promised not some fluff junk to dig up mini pets.

And lets be brutal, sandbox takes the least ammount of development money, they build the tools and players create there own content and it outlasts pve content if you know what i mean. so sandbox pays for itself and other content.

And i do agree with you, swg went mental but that was more down to bad planning, my guild created the FU housing on euro infinity when the cu hit. think thats still on youtube somehwere so if it is done it has to be done in a way not to impact in any way on the world and planets/zones we have now. it has to have its own areas created specifically or part of space and built into asteroids and space stations in its own areas.

The game isn't bad per-se... oh who am I fooling, it's even worse.. I mean 95% of the mobs in this game just stand there completely unscripted just stupidly waiting for you to come mow them down.

 

Ever played on one of those WoW private servers, where they pirated the software and everything is still unscripted and the mobs don't move and the entire environment is static - TOR is just like that. Who on their management team thought this would be acceptable in 2012!?

 

I mean how can you be that oblivious and yet be handed allegedly hundreds of millions of dollars to create an MMO!? It's really beyond incompetence... if this was anything other than intentional industrial sabotage I really weep for humanity...

This.

They've been given the tools, the resources, the manpower, and have the skill to provide us with a good, original, and innovative MMO, but instead we got WoW with glowy swords and our own "ships" to take the place of public zeppelins. They really dropped the ball, and it's not even being excused or argued by their own camp, instead the only defense they have for their failure is from the loyal fans of Star Wars who are willing to give them a fifth, sixth, seventh shot at making things right by saying "It is their first MMO" "It's new" "Give them time" etc.

The more experience they get with running an MMO (it's been seven months, this game isn't exactly new and shiny anymore) the less those excuses are going to work for them. The more they repeat their mistakes, the less those excuses are going to work for them. The more they continue to fail, the less Shingara's there will be to blindly defend their mistakes.

This game's ship has sailed. Better luck next life Bioware.

It all depends what they'll keep adding through new content patches. What I personally consider a must-have is expanded character creation. The given options are highly limited for our current day and age, and some of the available material is laughable best. I can fully understand that full facegen modifying or full body modifying was perhaps not possible to implement due to the long development streak, however, a good set of more customization options would've done this game a good deed (like more tattoos, hairstyles, complexion presets that actually look different and not near-identical except for like 10 of them from which 6 look like total carbage).

Also, either fill the player worlds with more content, or shrink the player worlds (or if that's not possible, provide more fast-travel options). At times you spend far more time simply backtracking and jogging through the dunes instead of 'playing' in any form (Crafting/Farming/Dueling/Questing). Traveling routes and aspect really should've been given a bit more thought in this game.

At last but not least, an implementation of better graphic processing and graphical customization such as the enbaling/disabling of volumetric fog, and other materials might give people the much needed performance boost they desire without having to trade it off entirely for mind-numbingly dull graphics. I mean, the difference between Very Low and Low shades is beyond immense, and often, it's it's only small details that keep the game from running at good visuals with good performance (I.E, as mentioned, volumetric shadows, implement sight distance etc)

By the way, more lay-offs today at Bioware Austin apparently, as well as the executive producer of the game voluntarily departing the company.

Must be a good sign, right?

I keep thinking of SOE's attempt to 'save' various MMOs (SWG in particular) and can't help but think that making game-sweeping changes only alienates the current customer base. The game is what it is: a theme park MMO built on familiar mechanics. You either like it or you don't. Don't get me wrong; there is nothing wrong with adding new features but changing the core fundamentals of this game will not, IMO, get subscriptions up.

You can't out-WoW World of Warcraft.

It is the pinnacle and the nadir of "Themepark"........ you can only do something different (note: voice acting isn't different).

By the way, more lay-offs today at Bioware Austin apparently, as well as the executive producer of the game voluntarily departing the company.

 

Must be a good sign, right?

Daniel Ericson walks into the Bioware offices on Wednesday and calls James Ohlen when he finds the lights off and no one at their desks.

Daniel::: Hi James you better get down here and see this man, this is absolutely too weird the only thing still talking are the voice overs.

James::: Really, hold the phone up so I can hear.

….and the rest plays out like this....

The game? Absolutely. This board? Nope.

I agree. These humans as a species are such spoiled squishy little talking monkeys.

I agree. These humans as a species are such spoiled squishy little talking monkeys.

TBF if humans were trees we'd not be having this conversation, because not only would we not be able to talk (or type), but because the internet (never mind SWTOR) wouldn't have been invented.

You might but here is the thing, they can put money into both.

You assume they have unlimited money. They dont.

Here’s the issue, and it comes down to what types of fans got attracted to this game and what they found when they got here.

 

The Hard Core Star Wars Fan,

Likely a refuge of the now closed SWG, they likely enjoy the story but without a more sandboxy elements, more open world feel, free flight space, chat bubbles, crafting that matters and opportunities for imaginative player driven fun, …their left disappointed and likely struggling not to hit that un-sub button.

 

The Bioware Fan,

These guys pick up anything with the Bioware name on it and love their story driven game play these are the guys that play Mass Effect 27 times just to see the effects of every story point. Most, by the time they get to level 50 on their first character realize this is a “Bioware Like” game but not really. The decisions you make have been so hollowed out and non-consequential…they’re just done! With an incomplete Legacy system and little news on how this may develop with little meaningful rewards for Story completions there really isn’t an endgame designed to hold their interests.

 

The MMO/WoW fan,

These guys are likely bored of WoW and looking for a change of scenery. Their passion is driven by leader boards, Rankings and Endgame Gear based achievements. The story bits just get in the way and their space bars are worn out by the time they hit endgame. Once in endgame they find it a too casual and support systems like player built UI mods, Leader boards, Meaningful Ranked PvP and deeper ranked endgame gear achievements leave the game feeling incomplete.

 

The Fanatics,

I likely fit into this category, I keep hanging on hopping that something magic is going to happen, and reality hurts. Fan sites are drying up and pod casts are falling silent. Even the ones hanging on are starting to sound cynical of the game with most if not all of the customers representatives they dealt with either let go or moving on by their own accord. So here’s hoping what’s left of the Dev team and Swtor’s funding can find the Force Power to save it from the Lava pit of obscurity.

 

So at this point the game just lacks an identity that’s hurting its appeal factor with all these factions of players it’s attracted. I really see only one direction it can go to try and hold on to a core player base and that’s to get more WoW like and try to compete head to head for the attention of WoW’s core market.

Nice observation.

I have to say Ii fit in category one and I can imagine that the title of that category is the same reason we dont actualy cancel.

Where could a starwars fan go anymore, i am certainly never going to leave a galaxy far far away for elves and fairies.

No matter how much the starwars fans and swg fans complain we are will stay, just like we stayed after the NGE.

When Bioware ignores the swg players and starwars fans, its okay because we are used to SOE and they were not much better.