It has been just over a month since Star Wars: The Old Republic Game Update 1.3: Allies went live. Server transfers are complete, and BioWare is in the process of moving the remaining players from origin servers to the twelve destination servers by way of automatic transfers. The looking for group system gives players a way to streamline the lengthy process of finding a group to tackle content. Both of these tools are great ways to help players come together and enjoy the already established Warzones, Flashpoints, and Operations. However, new content is the lifeblood of any massively multiplayer online game. For my thoughts on the future of SWTOR, hit the jump.
With no new content since April, BioWare is making it easy for players to find a reason to stop playing. Along with other players, I felt invigorated after the initial server transfers began. Player activity went from about 80 Republic players total logged in during prime hours, to nearly 250 players on Carrick Station alone. Warzone queues took less time, and I found myself fighting new players rather than the same people I faced three times already in the last half hour. Despite the not-yet-implemented looking for group system at the time, players were using general chat to form groups for Flashpoints, something I had not seen since December when the Esseles was still fresh. With people buying and selling on the Galactic Trade Network, players flexing their PvP-muscles in the combat training area, and socializing huddles around bank terminals, the game felt alive again.
When the Group Finder system arrived in Game Update 1.3, I felt like it pushed me towards flashpoints, in a good way. My Jedi Knight Guardian had a few pieces of Recruit and old Centurion gear, but not nearly suitable enough to take on some of the harder Flashpoints, or even beginner operations like the Eternity Vault. For others, the looking for group system was a way for BioWare to respect players’ time. Instead of spending close to an hour on the fleet hovering over general chat LFG spam, players could simply click a few buttons and have the system look for them while they do something else. The system is not perfect; there is no indication of estimated time before a group is formed, and damage dealing players still wait longer than tanks or healers due to combat dynamics. Regardless, the looking for group systems gives players a way to do the things they want while lowering—or skipping—the prep time required.
As great as these additions are, they do not give players looking for new content a reason to log in. Ranked Warzones give an extra level of competitiveness, but we are still playing the same four Warzones we have had for the last four months. The Group Finder system makes grouping easy, as it should, but even the most recent Flashpoint, Lost Island, still deals with a storyline from way back in January. We now have people to play with, and a way to play with them, now give us something to play.
I believe the pace of game updates directly reflects not only the satisfaction of players, but their activity as well. In December 2009, Blizzard released what was supposed to be their final content update for the Wrath of Lich King expansion, even though the next bit of content, their next expansion Cataclysm, was not due until fall the next year. As a result, Blizzard caved partly through the drought of content and released a patch that included a new single-encounter raid. I do not want BioWare to be like Blizzard. I want BioWare to be more like Trion Worlds. In its first six months live, RIFT received five content updates, each adding a new type of raid or other endgame content. More content means more players logging in and enjoying the game.
With the upcoming holiday release schedule starting up in only a few weeks, unless BioWare does something soon, they could see even more players dropping the game in favor of the non-MMO competition.
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Posted 8/11/2012 5:11:39 PMi don't know if its their shitty code, game engine, and or sheer noobishness but these guys are freaking slow. they keep saying they have this huge content/features design team yet Trion's Rift team puts BW/EA's TOR team to shame. Rift had what, an 8-month jump on SWTOR? they've released so much content (10 content patches in the first 6 mos) and are poised to launch their first expac which will feature 2 brand new continents-tripling the size of their game world! every class gets new "souls" (something like advanced classes in TOR), "dimensions" where players can customize private corners of the game world, 10 new character levels + raids and pvp war zones. i know i've left stuff out, but you get the point.
BW keeps putting out pressers that state they are always working hard to deliver yada, yada, but how does that actually translate to results?
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Posted 8/14/2012 2:13:32 AMAnd there is a huge difference between the two games. One is an unabashed WoW clone, the other is TOR.
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Posted 8/15/2012 12:24:16 PMno, one is an unabashed WoW clone with better graphics, the other is a wannabe WoW clone. i'll leave it to you to figure out which is which. you're right in that there is a "huge difference" between the two games-one has features/content and the other is light on them. one game has a workhorse design team and the other has, well, BW.
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Posted 8/21/2012 12:13:25 AMWhich is why I have great faith in TOR. Trion has yet to do anything to wow anyone. BW has a very good reputation. Also TOR has been out for 7 months, Rift has been out for what 15 months? Yea, I'll take quality over quantity thank you.
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Posted 8/23/2012 8:16:58 AMAH HAHAHAHAHAHA. Trion has yet to do anything to wow anyone. You mean except putting out content at the speed of light? Or fixing bugs quickly? Or actually listening to their fanbase? How about having Devs actually come into the game and talk directly to their players? That, my friend, is QUALITY.
Not communicating with their players and putting out minimal content after 9 months (yes, it's been 9 months, not 7) is not quality. And it sure as hell isn't quantity. Hell, Trion had free Character transfers after a couple months. BW couldn't even figure out how to character copy toons onto their PTS for patch 1.2, 4 months after release. And BW HAD a very good reputation. It's gone completely into the shitter over the last year.
You can have faith that things will turn around with this move to F2P. I highly doubt that it will. I quit and moved to Rift. Why? Because they seem to actually give a shit about their product and putting out GOOD content.
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Posted 8/10/2012 5:16:30 AMI'm kinda dissappointed that we are in that 1/3 of the months passed and we heard nothing about 1.4 from Bioware. Don't they want to advertise their major content patches anymore? Don't they wanne hype their stuff a little more so you actually feel excited about what's coming and don't just upload one day to realise... oh well.. 1.4 is on the server.... great.
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Posted 8/10/2012 7:15:13 AMI am excited... about the GW2's second "stress test" in a row, tonight.
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Posted 8/10/2012 11:14:06 AMso would i with my pre purchase and all!
Well i would if GW wasnt so terribad i couldnt make it out of the staarter area ;)
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Posted 8/11/2012 8:44:40 PMYou sound upset a little bit with your failed swtor game. Enjoy that mini golf course known as pvp arenas as we enjoy WvW in gw. ;)
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Posted 8/12/2012 5:06:17 AMnot on the slightest, i was more upset i paid $60 for the next jesus MMO and i couldnt get past the starter area becuase it was really bad, every mmo ive played i made to max level, the starter area in Gw2 was awful :( at least ive played the game i have an opinion on....your raving about GW2 without playing it...
ive got more then my value out of SWTOR, and when i dont i'll unsub, im not upset about anything :)
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Posted 8/12/2012 3:19:18 PMHeh, no, all I ever said in all of my post that it looked like a lot of fun with the random events and the massive pvp area. Other than that no i have not been able to play it because Anet seems to think it's fair that only prepurchsed gets in to play instead of pre oders. And how can you not get passed the starter area honestly? Are you one of those garbage casuals or did it d/c you? I am not getting that really, lol. And for the second jesus to mmo's I would never take any game that far until many months of playing and tons of hours put in to it. Look at the disaster known as swtor. ;) Everyone thought it was gonna be the mega block buster of a life time because it had voice acting but it turned out to be the titantic of gaming history.
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Posted 8/14/2012 2:17:17 AMAs someone who has played the GW2 beta, it's completely overhyped. As an MMO vet, the way TOR is now is the same that WoW was at about 6 months in. The difference between the two is the time, and competition, WoW didn't HAVE adequate competition to drive it do what TOR has had to, and TOR has obviously had that competition. All in all TOR still has a LOT of untapped potential, whereas GW2 is is more of the same.
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Posted 8/14/2012 3:17:28 AMNope, not one of those garbage casuals i actually raided when it was hard Vashj, Kaelthas, BT etc ;) and left world of casualcraft because of the facebook direction it took.
I couldnt finish their starter zones, because everything was so bad, the dialogue, the questing, the voice acting, the way that when you hand in your quests you get some pull away static background with 2 characters just standing there wittering forgetfull dialogue at each other, no actual character interaction. Scoff at TORs voice acting all you want, but when you've played through TOR's questing and dialogue, GW2 just doesnt hold a candle to it.
And then theres the "dynamic events" or what they should be called, Zerg fests, i just got bored of standing there hammering 2 hot keys mixing in the odd dodge button and my steath/heal power thing(i played a thief) with about 15 other players, it was so boring there was no tactics or any kind of structure, it was just a bunch of players spamming stuff individually, dodging back every few seconds, it really put me off.
then theres the actual quest, i went defending a keep, fought some big rock like monster,, it wasnt half bad and then ........woke up in some village and my next next dynamic quest was ........
a choice of feeding famyard animals, planitng seeds, or particpating in the zerg fest to kill some farm yard thief people. Yes fighting some big 20 foot epic rock monster to feeding animals....just awesome!
i'd rather spend my time playing through Wow, rifts and TORs starter areas then this so thats what i did i logged out, had better things to do then play that. I have the prepurchase so if i dont manage to palm it off to a friend for $20 i might try it at launch maybe they have made some miracle improvements, i doubt it though, i'd seriously go back to WoW or Rift and make a new toon on each of them them play through GW2's starter area.
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Posted 8/14/2012 1:17:58 PMEven with this new "event" i can't help but think that we will never see 1.4 to hold as much content as other patches.
Tbh i really think all the content from 1.4 will be pulled out and given to us one bit at a time.
One flash point next month, maybe the warzone the month after and that leaves the op for December
As for the level cap and new planet/race well that will be next year and i don't think ill be sticking around long enough to wait for it.
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Posted 8/15/2012 12:37:13 PMtime will tell how well GW2 does. it's not a perfect game, but it isn't "more of the same". TOR on the other hand is most certainly "more of the same". it's completely based on the EQ model of mmo development. sure, it's got more VO than your typical "traditional" mmo, but in the end it's structure is the same, only executed more poorly.
"untapped potential"-one of the most overused and abused phrases. unrealized potential is as wasteful/meaningless as using those words in a sentence to describe the relative worth of something. but since were on the subject, GW2 has more "potential" than TOR because they're actually trying a few different things rather than painting by numbers.