Voice overs potentially ToRs downfall?

The PvE has been destroyed to promote pvp balance belief with the released 1.4 balance changes is still silly. Yet for some reason the myth is spreading like wildfire.

Yeah they'd probably be best off separating PvE and PvP skill effects. I don't think its as bad a nerf to solo leveling as you assert though. I usually solo level and what I mainly use that ability for is as an additional interrupt(on my sage). On classes with full interrupts I barely used it at all. If I'm not tanking my companion is tanking, so what do I need a pushback for?

I'm not aware of this myth you speak of. I am aware, however, that the limited physics in the game is a solo players favorite if you spend any time outside this forum. Knockback and knockoffs are listed in the top 5 reasons the game is fun to play solo wise...let's face it, its as close to force unleashed as any MMO is going to get.

Nerfing any fun solo mechanic for the sake of more hardcore players is NEVER a good idea no matter how you slice it. Other MMOs have learned this lesson the hard way and have corrected this thinking, others have found ways to design the game so changes to one playstyle does not effect the other. It's basic modern MMO design.

Were not talking about functionality here. Were talking about appeal. Something this game lacks a bit too much for a modern MMO.

Could it be a non-issue? Sure. But was a wise move to make a change that effects all play styles?

Never.

You are really optimistic and perhaps gullible about the games development.

Why do you think the developers have gone mostly silent about content and F2P issues? They are not sure of the future of the game. Most future content they had "planned" was probably cancelled, and what was already completed is to be parsed out into the "every 6 weeks" content.

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=528763

Its already spread to in game discussion.

Again, I agree with your statement that the game should have separated pve/pvp effects for skills, so that they can be balanced separately. Your statements regarding what makes it good for solo, the appeal more than its actual usefulness are also reasonable. I still miss my pre 1.2 death from above. I always find myself wishing that it had its original radius when I fight trash.

...it is one mechanic, often overlooked in this game but in my opinion just as important...visual appeal and fun factor for specials. Since this is a Star Wars game the exceptions are higher in this respect. Its also one of the reason I thought nerfing health for mobs across the board but adding more mobs with less XP would have been better for solo play, as well as individual (companion less) buffs.

According to this old article, taken from an old developer's blog, VO's are mostly up to Lucas Arts:

"BioWare would be responsible for providing the reams and reams of scripts, as well as, managing the writing/VO production schedule. The LucasArts team would be responsible for finding the actors, recording and post processing the dialogue."

http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/48...ic-Voice-Overs

Why haven't bugs been fixed that we reported back in July of 2011?

Don't ask me to explain why the Bioware TOR team has failed so miserably.

I'm just saying that any decent group of developers, who cared about the product, could use the tools to produce content in a timely manner if management allowed them to.

Well that obviously isnt the case is it?

Just my own two cents. BioWare shot themselves in the foot with VO. They placed all their bets on VO being the 'revolutionary' change to MMO's thinking it would keep players involved to the extent that they neglected staples most MMO players were used to.

Now, they need VO to keep whats left of the population engaged in the only good selling point of SWTOR; story. But because they failed on just about everything else they are not generating the sub revenue to develop it.

Its entirely hilarious.

I doubt that voice overs will be the real cause of swtor having trouble making as much money as they hoped. I believe it is very clear that BW were premium rpg makers, but absolutely new to making an mmo. So, they made a great online ARPG, but are still working on making a great MMO. That is to be expected for anyone that thinks about it as their first MMO attempt. But I don't think anyone did. The masses and game industry in general just saw the budget and big names and figured that it would come out a great MMO. But the MMO part was a learning process for Bioware, plain and simple. They made a great immersive rpg (the leveling, the world, the animations, the immersion, etc), but are still learning as a company how to make a great MMO.

When you look at all the problems, I think it can all be attributed to a company learning for the first time how to devolop all the MMO features, balancing, updates, etc that gamers expect from a grade A mmo today.

- They launched the game and quickly discovered lots of bugs and broken features (lack of MMO testing experience)
- They spent too much resources on story and figured they would have time to develop more endgame content as they went along (inexperience with how quickly players will chew through content, the need for replayable content, etc).
-They did a poor job managing expectations and promised too much saying things like "Bioware doesn't release games until they are done". But MMO's are never "done", they are all a work in progress....ever improving, ever expanding.

Bottomline: BW is learning how to make a great MMO by doing it.....and that is a process. And, having tons of investor's money (EA) invested in their project just makes this process much more difficult as investors will always demand a say when they have so much of their money at stake and end up sticking their ignorant fingers in the pie while it is being baked.