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[4+ years later returning "vet"] Feedback


Deewe

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Hello,

 

Background

  • Huge SW fan, pre-ordered the game and made my forum account day #1, check my id tag ;)
  • Jumped back into the game with my children, cause you know SW...

 

Executive resume

  1. Forgot how a grind MMO are. I did not miss that at all.
  2. Very thin new content to do even with a 4 years interruption
  3. Weapon and clothes appearances are cool
  4. Templates builds and spec'ing are a good improvement
  5. Crafting mats inventory is just lovely
  6. Noticed some engine performance enhancements
  7. The last trailer is deceptive vs the content : where/how do I hunt/search for lost Jedi?
  8. Was quite lost when returning in game
  9. Economy is a mess

 

Details

Lack of content is still quite obvious. Compared to what you can have on STEAM for $15 it's abysmal. Obviously the game is still running on a very thin budget and top managers still don't see the potential. Just sad.

 

God, I did forget how annoying it was to play, grind and manage characters in MMO. I have over 20 characters, full inventory, cargo bay, legacy bank. Upon returning I spent hours to sort thing out. Even deleted low level mule characters with full cargo bay, loosing billions credits worth items in the process. Yeah, I forgot characters also had a cargo bay. And NO, customer service, whatever polite you are, don't restore them.

 

For people with alts we direly need a shared wallet between characters. Don't understand why this hasn't been prioritized yet.

 

I do understand the game is making money out of people unlocking copies of items to their alt. I do have hundreds of items stored for when I want to use them on a character of a companion. Unlocking all of them would cost a couple of thousand dollar to do so. That's where the Legacy system should shine. Also having to pay again an item we already own for being able to use it on alts is really a rip-off and a wrong message to your customers. It does not either promotes playing alts nor alternate companions.

 

I wish there was a graphical way to sort out character bound vs legacy bound items on the icons. I dunno maybe a different dotted border so you don't have to mouse over every items do identify them. BTW : please, please add an option to fix the position of items description frame, it's really trying for the eyes to always refocus on the new location while browsing and sorting our inventories. (Yeah I don't have young eyes anymore). Speaking of which, the bold font is still really tiring to read. Ever thought about hiring a UI usability expert to look into your UI? Again, while it's part of the UI core and design the bold font needs to be optional.

 

We still can't resize windows frames individually and well the preview windows should allow to move around the previewed character.

 

Now regarding the playability of the game, 5 min after logging my children, whatever she loves SW abandoned playing because we can't lock mouse look as in FPS. I mean, seriously, no mouse look lock feature yet? Lucky for us I still had an autohotkey .exe that just allows that. Short version : how to loose a client faster than you can say. Note : if she's not playing I'm not (Guess who's paying the subs.)

 

In terms of playability the game is somehow fun but hell, combat is mostly about hotkey management and staring at hot bars. I'd strongly suggest a UI cleanup and a port on consoles and gamepad. I know purists won't be happy but you can make combat fun, varied and challenging with a gamepad and a less UI management. And damnit why arent' there any chat bubbles yet? I mean, guys, seriously?

 

Also, you know mail we can read without being obliged to summon a droid or jump back to our ship, our stronghold of the fleet. That would be cool.

 

Long time ago I used to play in first person view with the UI hidden and it drastically immersed me in a SW environment.

 

Speaking of immersion, noticed you guys are still trolling the players with the silly gear and totally overdone appendices and weird features. Would you remove SW from the title, pretty sure many people would leave in a heart beat. That's kind of a pity cause would you tune down a little the artistic guidelines you would make the game way more appealing to SW fans for sure. BTW the choice of a more cartoonish style was indeed a good choice as the game is aging quite well. If you're wondering, the next improvement would be separating the gear dyes in two slots and fixing shadows in cutscenes. Still noticed the pixelated shadows, even with all the settings maxed out.

 

Regarding the content, what's interesting is the story tries to make the player the most powerful character of the galaxy. Which leads to cliché and childish story, translating into characters having their butts handed over by stupid mobs. To me SWG had this well in the way they did not try to pretend making the characters THE hero of the galaxy. Tis is impossible in a MMO as not everyone can be the one. Also saving the galaxy again and again gets boring in the end because it puts an emphasis on how stupid it is.

 

Don't know about your stats but guess very few people actually completed the story in the chronological order, Heroics, Flash Points and OPS included. You guys need to sit down a dev and a writer, build a list of the content, sort it out and set it in game so players automatically know where they are, what they missed and what would be the next step, from the first step on the home planet to the death of the emperor... I'm serious, you have to take players by the hand to keep them busy and... paying. Also, if a player want to redo a story instance, just allow them.

 

All the content, even OPS, should be doable solo. Obviously with various rewards and mechanics.

Contrary to popular thinking, most players solo play in MMO, what they like is being in a living environment and eventually interacting with others from time to time.

 

I did like some or the new environments, the diversity and the try to have smaller places, smaller rooms too.

 

I really like house furnishing and spent hundreds hours in many MMO doing so and well I did not miss SWTOR cumbersome and limiting system. If you ever have the budget :

  • Unlocks to increase #hooks in all strongholds
  • Either remove the hooks of drastically increase the offset range
  • Pan/tilt option
  • Resize option
  • Up/down/left/right option on every hook

 

Won't comment on PvP and OPS. Used to do them 100% of my time but it's not something you can't do if you can't dedicate yourself to this game on a regular basis.

 

I'm a big fan of X-Wing/Tie-Fighter series so won't waste my time commenting on SWTOR lackluster feature.

 

Might sound harsh but I still think this game, with the right budget and a drastic change in the direction, still has a potential to thrive among all SW games around or to come. However in its actual state, it more about how long you're going to milk players to pay the monthly bills for sure.

 

Good luck and may the force be with you,

Dee.

Edited by Deewe
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Funny, I just returned from a 4 -5 ish year absence, after a week these are my first impressions.

 

- Combat Styles are actually a great idea, but its kinda lame that old characters got stuck with their original ones.

- Pleasantly surprised with the crafting materials storage.

- I have 2 level 70 tokens, but they only work for new characters? why not let me boost one of my existing ones instead?

- The gathering UI is still as dreadful as ever.

- I enjoyed Fallen Empire / Eternal Throne But I really don't see myself playing it more than once

- It was really confusing to figure out what to do next, I even unknowingly skipped the "traitor" storyline and I'm eternally stuck looking at Theron's stupid face.

- I hit level cap mid-Onslaught, so I'll refrain from story criticism for now.

- You may think I'm a weirdo, but my main source of fun has been setting up my characters skills, arranging the UI and cleaning up my banks.

- I like the idea of a "solo gearing track" but from what I can tell, its not the best implementation :D

- Played several solo Flashpoints and yeah... scaling needs work.

- Obviously inflation is absolutely ridiculous, but I'm lucky because my Security Key kept ticking CC every month and ended up with a bunch to spend / resell :cool:

- Oh, and the client is still as wonky as I remember. Runs fine with a little tinkering, but still annoying.

Edited by cach-x
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