Here is my personal list of the games flaws. Ordered in 3 levels of signifcance: awful (ruins the fun), frustrating (spoils the fun), could be better (minor impact to fun):

I put my case in spoiler tags to increase the readibilty of my post. If you can't be arsed to read those I can't be arsed to read your reply.

Awful

No interface customization

The interface isn't much different from other MMO standard interfaces. BUT other MMOs offer addon support. Almost no endgame player sticks with the standard interface.

My case:

Long travel times

Granted the probably biggest part of traveling is being stuck for minutes, regardless of your computer, on loading screens. Still why do I have to watch those loading screens in the first place? It just takes too long to visit the fleet or traveling from Belsavis daily quest hub to Ilum daily Quest hub. A significant part of my playtime sinks into traveling instead of playing. This is especially hard for players with short play sessions and makes SWTOR to hardcoreish for subscription numbers in the millions. To me, its just very annoying.

My case:

Inaccessible content

I rarely got to do flashpoints or heroic quests while leveling. The time it takes to group up with other players and traveling to the heroic quest/flashpoint is barely worth the effort. By the time I'd have found a group, traveled to and completed Hammer Station I'd have outleveled the flashpoint if I'd have spend the exact same time on quests.

Which basically means while leveling SWTOR consists of questing and PvP, since heroic quests and flashpoints are too inaccessible.

Its similar for space missions. They would be ABSOLUETLY GREAT for killing some time. Your favorite companions still needs another 7 minutes for a crew skill mission? No problem: jump into space and blast some stuff. IF it were that simple. To start the space mission I'd have to travel about 10 minutes to my ship, then do the 7 minute mission and travel 10 minutes back to where I was. Thats too much overhead.

So what happens: the content is dead/unused. I never even once saw more than 10 players in the area "space" which is where all space missions happen. I bet its similar for flashpoints sub 50 and almost as bad for heroic flashpoints and heroic quests.

My case:

No character migration options

I know that the moneyhungry suits don't like it and consider MMOs a faliure once they merge servers/allow character transfers. But whats an even graiter failure is losing subscribers because they ended up on an underpopulated server. Its not uncommon for MMOs to have a big population spike on release and having players leave after the initial rush. You should have been prepared for this, you were not and you have to adress this problem like yesterday.

My case:

Inaccessible macros

Thats right folks. There are macros for SWTOR, like there are macros for every software. A developer can't decide to not support macros but rather if macros are build within their game or not. Between hardwaremacro-compatible keyboards, mice and controllers from Razer, Logitech, Saitek, Thrustmaster and Roccat there are plenty of macro software tools out there able to intercept keystrokes and replacing them with whatever you want, even scripts and loops.

I get the idea of not liking automated gameplay. I wouldn't like that as a developer either. But not supporting macros is the wrong approach to "battling automated gameplay". While I choose to use Flamethrower/Pulse Cannon according to the situation presented before me, the decision to use Rail Shot/High Impact Bolt or Flame Burst/Ion Pulse is predetermined. Rail Shot/High Impact Bolt is allways the better choice, there are no exceptions and its not evil but just smart to automate such decisions. Its not my fault as a player that this choice is predetermined its in your games design. If you are looking for someone to blame for that being automatable it should be you.

My case:

Long loading times

SWTOR takes forever to load. Especially with the rather yesterdayish graphics in mind. I made a comparison video how long Batman Arkham City, Battlefield 3 and the Witcher 2 take to load in comparison to SWTOR.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGeXR2vostU

Loading times:

################################## 34 seconds
############################ 28 seconds                              
###################### 24 seconds			                        
########## 10 seconds				                                                      

SWTOR 34 seconds

Batman Arkham City 28 seconds

Battlefield 3 24 seconds

the Witcher 2 10 seconds

Its kind of strange that DirectX 11 games like Witcher 2 load up to three times faster than SWTOR. In the case of Battlefield 3 there are maps as big as a whole planet of SWTOR with up to 32 players (twices as many as in SWTOR warzones), a lot better graphics, a lot better sound, a lot more effects, yet still it loads in 2/3 of the time SWTOR takes to load.

Oh and I even was generous with the SWTOR loading time. Since I took a quick load. Most of the time SWTOR takes more than a minute to load. Annoying!

Frustrating

Things that are frustrating quite often. Decreaseing the fun value of the game and might lead to subscription loss of less hardcore players.

Resolve, crowd control and stunlocks

Resolve is actually quite a neat system. Its easy to grasp and all information needed is available by the color of the bar.

Though one of the most frustrating things in SWTOR is being killed from 100% life without being able to react. Even with the CC breaker ability ready, its quite possible to stunlock someone to death.

It is possible to apply two 4 second stuns and one 2,5 second stun before CC immunity kicks in. In addition the CC breaking ability has more than twice the cooldown of the 4 second stuns.

My case:

Warzones with uneven teams

Could you imagine a soccer game (or football if you're american) to start with uneven teams? I'm sure you'd agree that the stadion would catch fire shortly after the uneven match begins.

This is what happens in SWTOR on a daily basis.

My case:

I'm not finished with my list but I already wrote more than an hour on this post, I'll finish it up later.

Reserved -

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We just got UI customization and all those add ons are 3rd party made. It's not Bioware's fault if no one else at Curse or something hasn't gotten around to making them.

A Flashpoint Finder is currently in development and is slated for 1.3. It's single server only at the time, but if it proves successful, then X server will be right behind it.

The only reason we have low pop servers is because so many people played flooded the Beta and asked for more servers to accommodate them, then up and bailed the second it appeared that World of Warcraft did not shut down the next day. Server merging is alot harder thanks to unique Legacy names. So unless two servers agree to rename their characters (and I mean ALL the players) server merging just can't be done. However, as I pointed out earlier, a Flashpoint finder is on the way, so even if you are on a low pop server, you will not miss out on the content.

The Ui is fine, You can customise it in anyway you want. We dont need 3rd party add-ons. Leave that in WoW, this is BWs game, so its there game we should be playing, Not mixed incarnation of 3rd party add-ons. This way, every player is on the same page. You let in one add-on, more will come, like Deadly boss mods, Stuff like that hopefully will never be allowed in TOR.

Issues finding a group - Well, this is on BW, and on you. Let me guess, you picked a server that had no queues at launch. Now you are paying for it. This will get sorted in time

Loading times - Well, i had issues with loading times on my old laptop. My new PC eats up the loading times, but there is still to many loading screens. BW allowed to portal to our ship from most planets. This has helped alot inm terms of loading screens. But we need less so I see your point here.

Macros - I have a k90 so i have access to macros if i choose. But are they needed in TOR. not at all. We should be the player. I use my extra keys are binds, thats it. And since we have ample space in terms of quickslots. Imo, they are not needed.

If you hate it so much, why are you still subbing? Why do people focus on the bad things instead of all the good things that keep us subbing.

I saw an amazing quote on a forum a few months ago and i wish i could find it but ill try and remember it the best i can.

"An MMO is like a baby, when its first born all it can do it poop and cry. Then it grows into a toddler and starts to crawl and we love to see it grow. It then matures into a mischievous kid pushing its luck but we still see all the potential. We then see our beloved MMO grows into a headstrong adolescent with its whole future ahead of it, getting smarter and better everyday. Next our MMO is fully matured, its the business and no one can touch it, its finally got everything just right. Finally we see our old friend starting to wind down, get a bit creaky but we have all the nostalgic memories of good times gone past."

I guess what im trying to say is STOP QQING and give it time. The games only been out for like 7 months or so and we have had some great content added. If you want a polished MMO go play "that other game". Im glad you at least out some suggestions on how to fix it otherwise i just would have posted:

I thought you at least deserved a decent response for the time you put in

If you hate it so much, why are you still subbing? Why do people focus on the bad things instead of all the good things that keep us subbing.

 

I saw an amazing quote on a forum a few months ago and i wish i could find it but ill try and remember it the best i can.

"An MMO is like a baby, when its first born all it can do it poop and cry. Then it grows into a toddler and starts to crawl and we love to see it grow. It then matures into a mischievous kid pushing its luck but we still see all the potential. We then see out beloved MMO grow into a headstrong adolescent with its whole future ahead of it, getting smarter and better everyday. Next out MMO is fully matured, its the business and no one can touch it, its finally got everything just right. Finally we see our old friend starting to wind down, get a bit creaky but we have all the nostalgic memories of times gone past."

 

I guess what im trying to say is STOP QQING and give it time. The games only been out for like 7 months or so and we have had some great content added. If you want a polished MMO go play "that other game". Im glad you at least out some suggestions on how to fix it otherwise i just would have posted:

 

I thought you at least deserved a decent response for the time you put in

And it is through these adverse opinions and even complaints and attacks that the game itself will begin to evolve; or it will sink like a ship that was thought to be unskinkable.

Don't get me wrong. I don't hate the game, not at all. I just wanted to point out the things that need improving. I'll play SWTOR at least another month.

The inteface customization is a great step forward but customization options still lag behind other MMOs a lot.

And there are no 3rd party addons because there is no API provided by Bioware. Which has become a standard for MMOs.

Don't get me wrong. I don't hate the game, not at all. I just wanted to point out the things that need improving. I'll play SWTOR at least another month.

The inteface customization is a great step forward but customization options still lag behind other MMOs a lot.

And there are no 3rd party addons because there is no API provided by Bioware. Which has become a standard for MMOs.

I've played many MMO's. Not going to list them but pretty much all the major ones. What iv found is that generally Addons make things easier. And with people already complaining about a lack of content why would you want to make things go faster. I also feel that every game i have put addons to they have somewhat broken my immersion.

I've played many MMO's. Not going to list them but pretty much all the major ones. What iv found is that generally Addons make things easier. And with people already complaining about a lack of content why would you want to make things go faster. I also feel that every game i have put addons to they have somewhat broken my immersion.

Its your choice if you want to use addons or not. Don't like their impact on immersion, don't use them.

The lack of content is a misconception. Its rather the lacking accessibility than lacking content. If you could jump into a flashpoint by queueing up and waiting a few minutes people would feel differently about lacking content.

Addons don't make the game easier and handling silly cooldowns isn't difficult but cumbersome. So I'd say addons make the game more playable not easier. Addons are great in pointing out boring game design, like those mini cooldowns for example.

Started to continue the thread. So far added:

- Resolve, crowd control and stunlocks