On the plus side, I think SWTOR has one of the strongest stories I've ever seen in a game. To me the story is very compelling and definitely is giving me a reason to stick around to level 50. I'm a big fan of both the single player KOTOR games as well as the Bethesda RPG's, and I think the SWTOR story has been as good or better than any of them. Also, I'm playing a Sith character, and feel like Bioware has fully fleshed out the Sith mythos in this game. Very cool.

My main complaint though is that thus far I'm not thrilled with the MMO/social aspect. I know that this might have to do with my being an MMO noob. Still in all, of the 8-9 heroic quests I've done with other people, I've only enjoyed maybe 3-4 of them. It seems more often than not I end up working with players who are rude, selfish, impatient, or all of the above. This has definitely soured the overall experience for me.

Also, having never played WoW, I'm finding the social/chat controls rather clunky. And speaking of the chat, I've seen more than a few troll chats going on as I play. Gosh, don't these people have better things to do like go out and hunt Jedi?

The feeling I get though is that the game is really meant to be played co-op with friends and family. If you are going in solo like me though, it seems it's all in the luck of the draw whether you meet up with cool people or jerks.

Anyway, I will definitely continue to level 50 as I'm curious to see if Darth Zash is going to eventually betray me. I'm sorry to say though that I've become rather jaded with the team heroic quests, and going forward will probably be a bit more circumspect before joining other players in doing additional ones.

April 5th Update:

As sort of a final note on my part, last night I found another 'loner' to team up with. We kicked butt and took names, practically bowling over resistance on Balmora, including that awful 'Creature from the Pit' (hey, wasn't that an old Doctor Who episode???

Anyway, a great time was had by all. It seems that what I lost in independence by teaming up with someone for the entire evening was more than compensated by the experience points and loot we gained, to say nothing of plain old fun! Anyway, I can see now that although you can probably get by playing as a lone gun, it is a lot more fun when you find like-minded people to team with.

Thats life.

No it's not. Don't accept rude behavior. Join a good guild, and 99% of these sort of problems will be a distant memory.

Having never played WoW, you really haven't seen the worst of it.

This game has a really great community compared to a lot of other games. There will always be a few rude people mixed in, but on the whole it's pretty good.

Find a guild. Running with a guild will significantly lower the chances of having to play with jerks.

One of the things BW could have done to really improve the Heroic/FP experience would have been to steal the "Sidekick" system from COH. One of the biggest impediments to my guild doing stuff together is that everyone's a different level.

And yes, I know the higher levels can "run the lower levels through" the instance, but honestly, that's no fun. It's much more fun to do the instance with the proper group size and everyone more or less on-level.

On any given night we have more than enough people on to run a Heroic or FP but never have enough of the correct level to do so. We even had to scrap our weekly guild mission nights because even with upwards of 12 people logged in, finding a way to group folks into parties that made sense and were roughly on-level was a nightmare. It took us 45 minutes to get set up and I had to log into my level 14 alt because there weren't enough spots for my level 30 main (and I felt as guild leader that if anyone should make a sacrifice, it should be me).

There is really no reason for this, and it would solve the OP's problem... because he could /friend players he likes to play with, and then team up with them regardless of level and do content. It would be more fun for higher levels to "mentor down" and do things on level than just blow through them. And it would be more fun for the lower levels than having someone just pwn the entire instance in 20 minutes for them. There really are no drawbacks to doing the reverse of Sidekicking (i.e., having a player voluntarily drop level to match someone else, temporarily losing all higher level talents and abilities) especially for something like FPs or Heroics that are designed to be repeatable. I can see where the non-repeatable quests might be problematic but there is no reason it couldn't be done for dailies.

If I were going to put my finger on the biggest single flaw in SWTOR, it would be this... the lack of a "Sidekick" type feature. Here we have this awesome game with great stories people WANT to experience together (at least my guild mates do), and we can't (at least not in a pleasurable way) because we're different level ranges.

BTW this would solve the issue on the other mega-thread that was floating around the top page here for a couple of days -- the dearth of social points. If people could do things on-level BW could increase SPs for leveling down, i.e. you are making a sacrifice by gimping yourself so we reward you a little bit (not saying a lot, but say a doubling of SPs vs. doing it on level, if you voluntarily gimp yourself). Two birds with one stone.

I am really disappointed in BW on this one actually. This was brought up on the pre-release forums, there was a huge thread, and the VAST majority were in favor of such a system (with the only argument that was ever really leveled against it being 'that's not how WOW does it')... but BW ignored the suggestion and now we have a situation where even when you have long-term friends, experiencing the content with them is either difficult or at least less enjoyable than it could have been.

Really I don't understand why so few MMOs have swiped the SK system from COH. It's probably the single best idea added to MMOs in the last 7 years. And people steal all the other, much poorer ideas... but they do not swipe the one true innovation that would make groups of friends really able to play enjoyably together. They steal idiot ideas like doing the same quest over and over again for tiny gear improvements (blargh) but then ignore the truly great ideas like the SK/Exemp system. I will never figure that one out.

I get where the OP is coming from, but having played WoW, as others have said, it's a LOT better than most MMOs.

That said, in group missions no I will not press space to skip dialogue, nor will I accept you telling me what to press for responses. (Two behaviours that suck the fun out of any group)

And please, for the love of the Sith, learn the difference between need and greed and use them apropriately.

Thanks all for the great suggestions. When I play this evening I will definitely keep an eye out for guild recruiters. I'm playing a Sith Inquisitor with strong restoration magika , and feel I'd be an asset to any team.

I still say that this game has an amazing story narrative and Star Wars ambiance. IMHO, thus far the story seems stronger than a lot of movies and novels. Also, putting this great story in the context of an MMO must have been difficult in the extreme.

BTW, Sith Magician, funny you should mention Need and Greed. That did cause some unpleasantness on one team quest I did. Anyway, understood, need trumps greed. I also get the feeling that if you are questing with people you don't know, in the interests of team harmony and cohesion it's probably best to just to pass on everything.

"Peace is a lie, there is only passion......"

I have three suggestions to try, in order:

1. Find a really good guild

2. Find a good guild

3. Find a decent guild

I'm not kidding. Guilds are what make MMO's fun. Find a decent one, and all your problems will go away.

The feeling I get though is that the game is really meant to be played co-op with friends and family.

Very much so. It's kind of strange, the game make-up. When you're generally levelling and playing the bulk of the game, being grouped puts you at a disadvantage. If you play with someone that rolled the same class as you, one of you will be forever waiting for the other person. But when you need people for group content and you need it now, often you have to skip them, or have someone on demand. Don't get me wrong, most of the groups I've had have been brilliant, but it has been a long time since I was in a group that actually got anything done. I've been in a group for heroic missions which were in areas I hadn't unlocked, so they found someone to replace me when I was on my way there, but by the time I'd explored the areas, unlocked transports, picked up the missions, there's not too many people on the planet, let alone lfg.

And the reality is that a lot of the heroic missions as well as fp's/ops DO require someone to be a tank and healer. So to get the most out of the game while levelling up as well as end-game you need a group of friends where you have a tank/healer and dps.

If I'm in a group (especially when it's only me and them for 2 person content), if they don't talk I don't get upset - not everyone speaks English let alone as a first language. But when the community as a whole is silent, it's a little off-putting. Fleet is not filled with spam from guilds looking to recruit. It's like the game is filled with people who don't like the game, they don't enjoy it, not playing for fun and aren't in the mood to talk.

Honestly, don't let a few a-holes put you off. Bad players? Unless people start getting a lot more chatty and sociable in general, there is no hope of them improving. Interest in the game, mechanics, gameplay (like talents and abilities etc) and fun are contagious. But so is boredom, apathy and negativity.

Yes Fozziwig, I'm looking out for a guild to join. Although I didn't find one last night, I did meet someone who got me to break the ice with PvP, and I have to say that Hutt Ball was a riot!

Wow Darnu, thanks so much for taking the time to write such inciteful and well thought out comments. Everything you said has been born out by my experience thus far. As you noted, my biggest complaint about being solo is that I might miss out on some cool content. Still in all, the content I have experienced I've enjoyed very much. I especially like having to decide between the light and the dark in dialogue options, that is so totally Star Wars.

BTW all, this is my second MMO. My first was Star Trek Online. I loved that game for about two weeks, but by about the third week was completely bored with it. In any event I think Bioware did a much better job capturing the essence of Star Wars than Cryptic did with Star Trek. In fact I would say that SWTOR has provided me with the most immersive gaming experience since Elder Scrolls Oblivion.

Also, I say half joking and half serious that I'm the one who wanted to play the Sith, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that some of my fellow Sith are not always very nice people. With the Sith I feel like I'm working for a nightmare police state like the Third Reich.

With the Sith I feel like I'm working for a nightmare police state like the Third Reich.

You basically are, and they get really unhappy when you get in their way and insist on them playing nice with the people of the planet. Darth what'shisname on Voss got all bent oput of shape when I suggested to the Voss that they work out their differences with the Gormack.

Good reply Terminova. I'm happy to report that my character has been able to maintain a healthy dark side balance, though I still occasionally feel a conscience and let some light side points slip through.

Anyway, better get to the game. I need to wrap up Balmora this evening and head to Nar Shada, one of my favorite SW places.

I have three suggestions to try, in order:

 

1. Find a really good guild

2. Find a good guild

3. Find a decent guild

 

I'm not kidding. Guilds are what make MMO's fun. Find a decent one, and all your problems will go away.

And this is the number one reason why MMOs have fallen into the pity sake they have become.

Back in the older days (pre WOW) most MMORPGs were designed so there was a community first.

Then the community would seperate into their little guild cliques, but there was always a over arching community!

TOR has no community

RIFT had a community because of Rifts but when you hit max level they stopped promoting community and focused on raiding which is just the elitist guilds excluding others.

WOW had no community, just more of the same regarding raids

DAoC actually was astounding prior to RAs as the relics rewarded the COMMUNITY so the community came togather in times of realm defence. It brought everyone togather!

This is lost on these WOW and post WOW games. None of them build and maintain a over arching community. They buy into the BS that to have interaction and socialization you need to join guilds.

Guilds originally were tools that reinforced the community at large.

Now a days they are elitist sub cultures that promote seperation and exclusivity and make a game having a community or socialization even more restrictive.

Guilds dont make MMOs fun.

Guilds promote seperation and elitism.

All the social guilds have long died out!

And for the self proclaimed vets (snickers) who will undoubtable come and tell me im wrong Ill just point at OP. Prior to WOW, he would have a place in the game community and only need to look at guilds for focused raids/pvp. The socialization would come from the community!

By everyones example, now hes forced to join someones guild and THEIR style of play, just to expeirence a social enviroment.

Well as long as he uses Vent that is.

I'm an MMO noob too and had I not read the reviews praising the strength and depth of the single-player experience in SWTOR, I wouldn't have bothered. As with any multi-player games, I'd only be interested in playing with friends, for fun. I see other players dashing around having fun and it doesn't ruin my game, even if they have my companion with them (I was a little freaked out by the five and a half Louis Letrushes in Skyrim, but now I just run past and say hello to each of them).

One idea I had, as a lowly level 4 Noob, was that in order to make the game more immersive, actually make interaction in game more fun. Rather than have stupidly difficult Heroic challenges that make you gravitate to the nearest person on your server just to finish it, make use of player classes. For instance, I haven't played as a Bounty Hunter but I imagine that the bounties you'd be collecting would be NPCs in your storyline. What if you could contract a bounty hunter to take out another player? Or hire a smuggler to locate something for you? Or contract a bounty hunter to take out the smuggler who nicked your Alderaaninator... You see where I'm going with this?

And if you do end up as a head on a Hutt's wall, you would have a cut scene of your character waking up in a med-bay with a nice new metal head... alive and free to take revenge on the smuggler and bounty hunter.

This lends your character a purpose inside the game and outside of the single-player story. As it stands, you don't gain any kind of kudos outside of the game for doing the Heroic challenges; but something that, as a player, may have real consequences for someone else's character could lend something special to the game.

If there is something like this in there (I've been playing as a Sith Warrior, so far upto lvl 21) then I'd love to know.

As sort of a final note on my part, last night I found another 'loner' to team up with. We kicked butt and took names, practically bowling over resistance on Balmora, including that awful 'Creature from the Pit' (hey, wasn't that an old Doctor Who episode???

Anyway, a great time was had by all. It seems that what I lost in independence by teaming up with someone for the entire evening was more than compensated by the experience points and loot we gained, to say nothing of plain old fun! Anyway, I can see now that although you can probably get by playing as a lone gun, it is a lot more fun when you find like-minded people to team with.

BTW, as an aside, a lot of people have mentioned WoW, which I suppose is the seminal MMO. IMHO, I think Blizzard was great back in the day, but they let success and money go to their heads. Starcraft Two is a case in point of how bloated and pretentious Blizzard has become. Now I wouldn't play their stuff if someone paid me. But I digress.

On the plus side, I think SWTOR has one of the strongest stories I've ever seen in a game. To me the story is very compelling and definitely is giving me a reason to stick around to level 50. I'm a big fan of both the single player KOTOR games as well as the Bethesda RPG's, and I think the SWTOR story has been as good or better than any of them. Also, I'm playing a Sith character, and feel like Bioware has fully fleshed out the Sith mythos in this game. Very cool.

 

My main complaint though is that thus far I'm not thrilled with the MMO/social aspect. I know that this might have to do with my being an MMO noob. Still in all, of the 8-9 heroic quests I've done with other people, I've only enjoyed maybe 3-4 of them. It seems more often than not I end up working with players who are rude, selfish, impatient, or all of the above. This has definitely soured the overall experience for me.

 

Also, having never played WoW, I'm finding the social/chat controls rather clunky. And speaking of the chat, I've seen more than a few troll chats going on as I play. Gosh, don't these people have better things to do like go out and hunt Jedi?

 

The feeling I get though is that the game is really meant to be played co-op with friends and family. If you are going in solo like me though, it seems it's all in the luck of the draw whether you meet up with cool people or jerks.

 

Anyway, I will definitely continue to level 50 as I'm curious to see if Darth Zash is going to eventually betray me. I'm sorry to say though that I've become rather jaded with the team heroic quests, and going forward will probably be a bit more circumspect before joining other players in doing additional ones.

Everything with the exception of heroic quests is a personal problem. Welcome to the internet; the cyber world of trolls and rude demeanor.

Regarding heroics; finding a group will get tougher as you go along. Trust me. Once you hit Alderaan, the heroic 4's are both incredibly difficult at your level and very hard to find people interested in doing it. Especially on low pop servers.

I would suggest this for any MMO. Find a guild. No one appreciates strangers. Joining a guild (even a small one, or one with little to no 50's or end game plans) allows you to at least converse with people who enjoy the game.

Also a first time MMOer here. I've really had an awesome experience.

As a single player only person in the past, the idea of a bunch of real people all in the same game at once was weird to me. When I started the game I was resolved to play only with my relatives and avoid other people like the plague. However, conflicting schedules quickly caused me to need to find *gasp* strangers to run FPs and Heroics with.

For the most part, it's been awesome. I've met some fantastic people. There have been a few annoying persons here and there, but on the hole I've enjoyed 95% of my group experiences.

Doing FPs and Heroics with a pick-up group has become a favorite thing for me, and I did not expect that at all.

If you are consistently having problems I would recommend trying another server, or seeking out a guild that has standards for behavior so you always have polite people to group with.

You could also try to add those people you enjoyed grouping with to your friends list.

You would be amazed how much they actually remember you (chances are if you had a good time, they did as well and remembered it).

I realized I have not been adding people to my friends list at cca lvl 25.

Once I started doing that, the waiting time has dropped significantly, now I almost never wait.

One more thing to try is to look if someone is marked for grouping and politely ask them if they would team up with you. Many times players helped me out on some heroics eve if they did them already.

The community of SWTOR is great imo!