SWTOR

You're acting like SWTOR hasn't been out for two and a half years at this point, and that all the issues with combat that existed at launch are still around. And the only thing that was ever even close to being animation locked (I don't think that means what you think it means, see TERA for animation locking) was some of the delayed reaction abilities like a Consular's Project which would fire and then hit a half second later (long since fixed). There's a few "channeled" attacks which will cut short if you move (by design) but there's no abiltiies that I know of that are animation locked and I'd like to think I'd know since I have all the Archtypes at 55.

SWTOR is a good game because despite the initial unrealistic expectations on sub numbers, they've stuck to their format, have not let the Cartel Market turn into a Pay2Win store, and do a pretty decent job of routinely adding things for the players to do. It's not a great game by any stretch of the imagination, and has a host of individual issues (a slow Operations cycle, PvP is routinely uninteresting, Ranked Arenas are dependent on population and plenty of people just don't care, no new Hard Mode Flashpoints since Makeb was released) but no game can have it all. Hell, by the time the next WoW expansion hits it'll be a year+ since the last major content update. Which is what, the 3rd/4th time they've done that?

At any rate, got my Shadow to 52 and am PvPing my way through to 55. Won all my matches yesterday, which was fun, but for the most part I know I'm going up against a lot of people who don't know their classes as well as I know a Shadow after having played an Assassin since launch.

TheYanger_sl said:

This is a dumb conversation. It IS wow combat, but with straight up less depth and at launch suffered from janky shit stiffness due to animation locking and inconsistency. If you want a slow GCD go play FF14. If you want a 1.5 second GCD SWTOR is strictly worse than wow.

Wow has a ton of depth that has been added in over the years, but given that this game is a carbon copy of it at its most base level, it's asinine to be like "SWTOR IS GOOD CAUSE COMBAT SYSTEM IS GOOD".

Click to expand...

Maybe I missed a post but nobody claimed it was vastly different then WoW - there are several posts that state they prefer the WoW/TOR/FF14 hotbar combat style over many of the recent action-like games (Tera, GW2, Wildstar, Neverwinter). And then you jump in with "ermagawd wow is betterer". Wut?

moontayle_sl said:

SWTOR is a good game because despite the initial unrealistic expectations on sub numbers, they've stuck to their format, have not let the Cartel Market turn into a Pay2Win store, and do a pretty decent job of routinely adding things for the players to do. It's not a great game by any stretch of the imagination, and has a host of individual issues (a slow Operations cycle, PvP is routinely uninteresting, Ranked Arenas are dependent on population and plenty of people just don't care, no new Hard Mode Flashpoints since Makeb was released) but no game can have it all.

Click to expand...

A couple of things: The expectations on subs was not unrealistic. It's one of the most valuable IPs on the planet. The only reason it's F2P is because of it being, at best, a mediocre game. Saying it was unrealistic is essentially giving Bioware/EA a pass on making a sub-par game. Second, they have not "stuck to their format", unless they just announced they are continuing the individual class stories which were ditched the second EA hit the panic button. Third, the way they manage F2P is insulting and sad. The expansion pricing vs. content, F2P limitations, random lockboxes, etc just screams money grab.

No, it was unrealistic because they were thinking WoW-like numbers when no game since then has even come close. And they complete disregard the fact that WoW didn't immediately reach that level, it took time. The bleed that occurred afterward was the result of a combination of things, the top three in my mind being 1) a lack of basic QoL functionality, specifically in group finding and travel times, 2) Lack of things to do at end game, release had 1 op and 1 boss of another, some dailies and some hard modes, but that was it, which was exacerbated by 3), they underestimated players, with even the average player burned through the content so fast that #2 was extremely glaring to just about everyone.

They had three content updates within six months of release so it wasn't as if they didn't try to keep up but just like with ESO it's clear the game need a little more time in the pipe. I've long said that 1.2 should have been the day one patch considering it had the 3rd operation and legacy, which was a hugely touted feature of the game prior to release. Of course, by then it was too late. 1.5 in November of 2012, less than a year after going live, they went F2P.

Now, their F2P implementation is horrendous. They clearly want people to sub to the game and they're not shy about wagging that in front of players at every opportunity if they decide not to. I don't agree with it, I think it drives more people away than it brings in, and it makes things difficult as a subscriber because the limitations don't do anything to help me get the one thing I want, more people to play with. But I don't control their business model and there are people better at making that argument than me (and they have), so I just deal with it and move on.

That said, as a subscriber I think the game is worth playing. Hell, this is the first game where alt-itis hit me really hard. I have 12 55s, soon to be 13. As I stated, I'm not oblivious to the issues the game has, they just don't deter me from having a good time.

The game was marketed as a premium sub game when it was in reality a premium F2P game. I'll give them credit for realizing that and salvaging some moneymaking potential rather than going down with the ship but they still fell fall short of expectations. Any game that is rushed out to release and fails to deliver is going to have a first wave of exodus after the first month or two. But then they still didn't deliver with the much delayed April patch either so the inevitable second exodus forced them to see the writing on the wall.

moontayle_sl said:

They had three content updates within six months of release so it wasn't as if they didn't try to keep up

Click to expand...

Bit kind calling 1.3 a content update - it was pretty much just a group finder, which anyone knows needed to be in at launch. What happened to them having a planet a month ready to release after launch ?

There's still some oddities with melee in pvp. Get a lot of situations where it thinks people are behind you, or you try to backstab and it thinks you aren't behind them etc. It is made worse by some really annoying people using the runspeed stances and randomly glitching about.

There's some goofy balance stuff going on as well, where most classes have a single spec that you either use or be useless.

Run speed stances? There are a bit of balance issues but that is pretty much the case with every MMO ever, overall i think ever spec/class is viable in non ranked, some fall short when facing optimal arena teams, that being said I wouldnt be surprised if BW scraps the whole ranked thing eventually no one uses it, the only time it happens on JC is when we schedule it, and its the same 2-4 teams anyways, and it won't pick up again until they show what season 2 rewards are, providing they good rewards, you rarely see folks using their ranked rewards aside from the rancor, all of my sets are still in the reward box, it should have come augmented

I don't know that it would improve ranked but I think a big part of the problem with pvp is the 5 warzone a week limit on non subscribers. That feels like some clueless exec from facebook / phone land came up with that idea.

The matchmaking in the lower levels is horrible, and I think it is just because there aren't enough people queuing. I only say that because I can't imagine matchmaking being difficult to code. I see a close match once every 2 or 3 weeks. The rest of the time it is a group of 50+ vs a bunch of 30's.

There is no matchmaking in regs. It's literally a linear queue. You sign up and take your spot in line.

Ranked has matchmaking but it's shitty. They use ELO to determine rating but the pool is so small you could easily get matched up against a poopsocker with 500 more points than you. There's a lot of calls within the vocal minority to just merge all the servers into one big mega server ala ESO and screw the PvP/PvE/RP tags. I don't see it happening though since they allow for paid transfers. Merging would deny them a revenue stream and that's something the suits will never buy into.

you can queue for warzones past 5 per week if you play queue with subscribers.

I am one of the minority that thinks that one megaserver would be better than all of the NA servers dying a slow death, i do think having a vibrant community would outweigh the server transfer cash in the long run. the PvP servers are kind of pointless, and I really don't get the appeal of RP servers. They are going to have to take a serious look at their playerbase for future PvE content as well, only a handful teams have cleared the current nightmare buffed content and I know first hand its hard as hell to recruit good talent for PvE with the games current playerbase

Anybody still playing this? I am thinking about making a baby Bounty Hunter or Sith Inquisitor. I havent played since Hard Mode SoA, and Im kinda missing it.

Spynx_sl said:

Anybody still playing this? I am thinking about making a baby Bounty Hunter or Sith Inquisitor. I havent played since Hard Mode SoA, and Im kinda missing it.

Click to expand...

For casuals the game is thriving, there is plenty to do for a new player its just a bit stale for those who have been playing since launch

Yep, plenty to dive into. They offer a flat two-month sub with no renewal though you could also do a one-month sub and just cancel. Highly recommend playing with a sub, it's just not worth the headache to play without one.

warhammer online in space. works for me!

Utnayan_sl said:

The JK story is awesome. I am completely hooked. I am going to try smuggler after this, and than probably be washed of the game again for a while. I am hearing Smuggler is actually good, but people don't like it because it isn't Star Wars Cliche like the JK story. (But I love Star Wars Cliche) If Anyone is playing on JC on the repub side, I am on usually most nights as Nayantu in Goon Squad for heroics or FP's.

Click to expand...

What planet are you on?

Oh, and while you're playing make sure to keep doing things to raise Kira's affection. She has the best storyline out of all the companions.