Showing posts with label SWTOR. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SWTOR. Show all posts

Thursday, January 16, 2014

The Elder Scrolls Online (TESO) Is Going To Be A Piece Of Shit. And You Know It.

Oh here we go again.

Another big named IP MMO being pumped out to collect a month worth the subscription fees before everyone quits because they figured out the game was worthless, uninspired GARBAGE.

I mean...WHEN. WILL. PEOPLE. LEARN.

I Sure Hope This Is The Console Version

First warning should have been that Zenimax is making the game, you know, the parent company and not Bethesda? The the major warning should be that the game is under a heavy NDA just like SWTOR. Also, the fact that this game was announced to be for consoles also...I don't care what anyone says...if you have been playing MMOs as long as I have been then you should know there is NO WAY IN HELL a MMO is going to be good if it's on a console. Just due to the fact that a MMORPG should be about THE WORLD you are in first. And I'm not talking linear "follow this straight path to all your quest" worlds.

So anyways back to what I was saying...

This game has BARELY released any information other than cherry picked content, prevents everyone from streaming or showing any videos of the game, does FAKE Reddit "AMAs" called "AUA"(...like AUAHAHAHAH) and is releasing this shit in April.

Have you seen the trailer video for this shit?


I mean, this reminds me of Rift/Warhammer instantly. Look at the stiff animations. Are the only spells in this game fire and electricity based? What the fuck is going on. I've seen more motion in rocks I threw across the street (and accidentally broke my neighbors window :( ).

This game seems to be copying the SWTOR gameplan to a T. I mean ALL the character bodies and animations are EXACTLY the same. For ALL RACES. This is just like SWTOR.

Heavy NDA without releasing much of any real information. Just like SWTOR.

Using a popular IP from a single-player game. Just like SWTOR.

Cherry picking questions to answer. Just like SWTOR.

Instanced, watered-down. map-pack MMO. Just like SWTOR.
 
Yup It's FUCKING SWTOR II: The Journey To Free to Play (and eventually shutdown)

I'm starting to think that these MMOs are just hoping to get as much money as they can during the first month then when shit goes down hill, start firing all the staff and blaming the people who had nothing to do with the games failure before the top bosses leave the company with their fat checks.

Also...

 That lizard looks completely ridiculous on that horse.

 Laugh out loud.  






Wednesday, November 20, 2013

EA To Destroy Star Wars IP By Making Games Like SWTOR For Another 10 Years.

So...EA's chief financial officer "Blake Jorgensen" just said this on Eurogamer:

"Yes the original expectations obviously were very, very large and obviously the multiplayer MMO world has - the popularly has come down over time and we tried to restructure the Star Wars business to better match the economics. It's a great business that's very repeatable," he added. "We brought the economics in line so it's a profitable business for us."


Notice a pattern? BUSINESS! BUSINESS! PROFIT!

Dear Jedi Jesus: Please Make Disney See The Light And Stop EA From Making More Star Wars Games.


No.

Don't "RESTRUCTURE THE BUSINESS". This is the EXACT problem. Look at how he talks about the VIDEO GAME. They aren't worried about players having fun or enjoying the game. They are worried about how much money they can make every quarter.

RESTRUCTURE THE WHOLE GOD FORSAKEN GAME!

Make REAL games that aren't meant to MILK the IP!

Put REAL effort into listening to your community!

Only people that currently play SWTOR are the people they thought would be the majority, the people who are die hard Star Wars fan. They are the only ones who don't care or don't notice just how bad the game is because they don't know any better or anything else.

I am seriously tired of EA and their sh--!

Shit.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Wildstar Will Probably Fail and Go F2P. Sadly.

Getting kind of tired of this same MMO pattern. It's like these developers never learn or it could just be that...oh I don't know MMOs have just become a "Get Rich Quick" scheme...of sorts. So I am going to keep it short and to the point. Actually, I will post this way from now on.

I've been following "Wildstar" for quite some time and though the overly cartoon style ALMOST threw me off completely, I managed to continue checking up on the game from time to time.

Don't get me wrong, I like the Wildstar development team and I really wish they never made this mistake. Especially since they will in essence be going against an IP like The Elder Scrolls.

So now, here we are further into the development of Wildstar and we have talks of release dates, classes, pricing models and etc. etc. That's all great. Wildstar seems to be the game that has everything and is for players who have been waiting for a good MMO were developers "care" about their players. Everything about this game seems to be perfect right?!

Wrong.

Wrong because Wildstar is an IP jumping into a market where word of mouth will make or break your game into a thousand pieces and it's a shame that developers of MMOs still haven't learned this simple fact:

When it comes to a RPG of any sort, LORE is king over all.  For example, The Elder Scrolls Online might be complete garbage game-play wise but that won't matter at the start. People know TES. And even if they hate MMOs or never played one, people will play for the IP alone.


Lore...lore...lore...does no one care about lore anymore? Or does everyone just love their MMO fastfood?



I Barely Know Anything About The Elder Scrolls Lore... But It's More Than I Know About Wildstar's!
And no, I don't mean the lore INSIDE your MMO that most players are going to be skipping anyways, I am talking about the lore that is established long before you even created that MMO. Lore people are familiar with or can get familiar with outside of the MMO. This is why, in my opinion, any MMO developed should be based off some sort of existing franchise. Whether it's a book, comic, movie or game doesn't really matter but it SHOULD have established some sort of lore people can reference. People just feel more connected to things they know and feel they understand. It doesn't matter if everyone knows the lore because your core fan base will be there to rant on and explain it via forums, role playing servers and video blogs.

This disturbs me because I am currently writing my own fantasy novel and hope to create some sort of game based around it in the future

Right. Point.


Who Needs Lore When You Have Stereotypical English Accented Villains!


Now if this game was fully voiced such as SWTOR (which is a terrible game) that could help sell your lore but so far what I have seen from this game is the same reading, boring objective missions and "AIN'T NO BODY GOT TIME FOR THAT!" mob grinding.

 Your random MMO and IP that popped out of no where probably will never be a top MMO or retain even 50% of it's user base due to the fact no one has really "grown" with your IP. No one knows anything about the story, characters, world....ANYTHING. Nor will most players care to learn once they get past the first once and something new and shiny they ARE familiar with comes out.

Then again, using SWTOR as an example again, you could have all the lore and money in the world and still managed to develop one of the worst MMOs created. How is that possible?

 It's called putting money first and player satisfaction last.

Monday, May 7, 2012

SWTOR Subscriptions Down 25%...

...but of course there is a reason.

And according to the diehard fans, it's either never Biowares' fault or it doesn't mean there is anything wrong. Everything is perfect in the land(s) of SWTOR...even if your server has 1 person on it.

Funny. I know.

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=447469

Today's earning call provided facts that allowed us to finally understand that the dead servers we were playing on weren't just part of our "hater" imagination.

So now, the defense comes up.

On the forum, you have people who once said "SWTOR would surpass 2 million subscribers " saying , "I told you haters this game wasn't dying!"

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ea-sales-beat-targets-star-wars-takes-hit-2012-05-07?siteid=yhoof2 

Yes, it makes perfect sense!

Because losing a quater of your playerbase means the game is still growing!

Sometimes, I really believe it's the fanboys that helped destroy SWTOR.

Sadly, it's probably the "haters" like me, that are big MMO fans, who saw this coming long ago. Instead of listening to us, Bioware tried to do the bidding of the people who have no idea what makes a good MMO.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Just Thinking : Turn-Based Combat Does Not Belong In Any Star Wars MMO

Now, I am by no means a "Star Wars geek" or knowledgable about much of the lore besides the first three movies, KOTOR and Jedi Knight series but...

I've been thinking after watching the Star Wars movies (the first originals) on how a perfect Star Wars MMO would be. You know? The type of gameplay, mechanics and features it would have.

I felt the best way to achieve a good Star Wars MMO is to follow the period AFTER the originals. Either right after the end of Return of the Jedi or around the time period of the Jedi Knight : Academy game series.

Even though I have been playing MMOs for years, it took me a while to understand what people meant by "turn-based" combat. And now that I understand what "turn-based" combat means, I can see why turn-based combat doesn't feel right in some games.

I want to jump right into it though. I think alot of the issues with MMOs is the "turn-based combat" in them. It seems very out of place, especially Star Wars MMO.

I think that combat in a Star Wars MMO should not be similiar to other MMOs. It should not have the type of combat where you hit someone with a lightsaber and it doesn't inflict tons of damage. It should be more about BLOCKING / DEFENSE.

Therefore, I think the animations and gameplay should be based around defending yourself.  Where you block until one of you gets lucky enough get a hit on the other.

And as much as I would like FPS style combat, that is usually the first type of combat to become exploited with aimbots and other hacks so...an auto-target system will suffice.

 I also think that crowd control skills have gone too far MMOs and if you play SWTOR you will see what I am talking about.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

PvP in SWTOR 1.2 is Complete Crap...Unless You're Empire....

...but just so happens that 80% of  SWTOR's population play Empire.


So...I took this free "7 days come-back" special from Bioware for people who quit. They wanted us to come back to try the hyped up 1.2 legacy patch and give the game another chance. I decided to try it again because, well, Guild Wars 2 isn't out yet and maybe I judged SWTOR too early but...

...all it's doing so far is making me hate this game even more. There are many things I want to touch on but the major most noticeable thing is the PvP handsdown.

It's almost exactly 50% worse than it was before and worse than any game you've probably PvP'd in. 

Yes, even Champions Online and Rift.

Just Joined A Game. Republic Losing and Only Had 5 Players Vs. 8. This Happens 90% of the Day.

Not to mention Bioware buffing/ changing classes in very rushed and sloppy way. And it's not me. I love PvP and found SWTOR pvp amusing and fun before 1.2. Now it's complete trash.

It's hard to describe how the PvP is worse because it was never really that good to begin with, but I'll give you an example:


If You Play Republic, This Is What Your Score Will Typcially Look Like. Note
If You Have Less Than 3 Medals, You Will Get No Reward.

Before 1.2, you would get a certain amount of rewards if you lose. It wasn't as much as the winner but it was better than nothing.

Now, they changed things to the point that you can get NOTHING AT ALL for doing PvP matches. Literally, nothing. It's now based on medals. If you get very few or none, it's almost if you didn't even play a match.

 And this will happen ALOT if you are playing on the Republic. I was just in a match, fighting the SAME pre-made Empire guild over and over. They would stomp us into the ground. This has alot to do with the "PvP" stats in game as well (which I find makes PvP worse in itself) but still let's say that wasn't even a factor.

The fact that you get NOTHING is stupid all together.


It's even more stupid because Bioware KNOWS 100% well that Republic is outnumbered or dead on almost every server. Not only that, on the server I am on, we barely, if ever, have a full team. So it's always 5 +/- Republic going against a full 8 man team of Empire.

I also say Bioware knows this because they are slowly leaning torwards making all the Warzones non -faction based. Which pretty much means Empire will be fighting Empire and Republic will fight Empire. See what I did there?

The sad part is, there are players ACTUALLY trying to play the PvP still. That part I DO NOT understand. For some of these players common sense will just never kick in. The PvP is imbalanced and not fun. Period.


But you know what? Instead of making some long post about this horrible broken PvP sytem, I'll leave you with some threads on the official forum where people are obviously not happy with this change to PvP:

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=405248
http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=414039
http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=412826
http://www.swtor.com/community/forumdisplay.php?f=76

 In fact, the only ones that seem to be happy are the Empire. I wonder why?

With that said, if people want my advise on if they should buy this game...

...then the answer IS NO.

I can deal with MMO developers making mistakes but Bioware just does not listen. They do not test their content properly. They have no clue how to run a MMO or what a MMO needs.

Do not waste your money and time on SWTOR unless it goes free to play or you just want to do PvE single player type things.

Friday, April 13, 2012

Bioware Values You...If You Are Level 50 in SWTOR.

Many adult TaunTauns were killed in order to steal their children to be your slave.

Yesterday on April 12th, Bioware announced they would be giving their loyal subscribers that remained subscribed from day one a free TaunTaun pet and 30 free days.

Sounds great!

Bioware is finally giving back to the community it loves to rob so much.And I bet it has nothing to do with players leaving SWTOR in droves and all the negative feed back! Oh,wait a second...aren't you...aren't you one of those, "I didn't rush to 50 players" that still don't have a level 50 after almost 4 months? You are also one of those players that believed Bioware and thought a decent MMORPG consist of rolling alternative characters constantly?

Well then I would like to apologize as this offer does not apply to you.

No, for those of you that are not level 50  but subscribed the same time, you get nothing but the TaunTaun, which if you are lucky won't causes errors to your gameplay. Yes, you players that decided to roll alts because Bioware said it was an important part of the game are not important nor loyal enough to get 30 free days.

On a serious note, if you look at the forum, most of the people who constantly defended everything Bioware did are now up in arms about not being rewarded as well. Go figure.

I'm not saying they shouldn't be rewarded as well. I feel they should get 30 days free as well but it's kind of amusing to see the ones who called anyone who was dissatisfied "whiners", "complainers" and "entitled generation". And now they are complaining.

Amazing isn't it?

Because remember kids! Everything is fine and dandy until it's something that effects you!

I leave you with links to the rage:

The Real Reason for the Free 30 Days!
Celebrate Game Update 1.2: Legacy

Also a bonus post for Legacy 1.2 and why I told you / will make a post about why it fails:

GUILD BANK GONE! items lost!

Enjoy!


Quit SWTOR. Sucked Then, Sucks Now, Will Suck in 1.2 PT.2


Alright, just to let you guys know, this will probably be one of my last post about SWTOR...

I know. I just love giving my very biased opinion about SWTOR because it's everything I feel is wrong with the MMO genre wrapped up in a big ball of hype and failure-to-deliver. I don't believe I have hated a game this much since...All Points Bulletins. In a way, they are actually very similar.

APB and SWTOR that is. They were both published by EA, both lacked real content, both were hub games and both focused more on advertising than the horrible, broken gameplay.

Maybe I liked Bioware so much  I expected too much? Not sure!

Moving on!


So...by now if you STILL have forced yourself to play SWTOR, you probably have noticed the huge drop in server population unless however, you are on one of the few populated servers. And when I say "few", I literally mean that. If you stroll by the forums, the "loyal" Bioware fans however will make you believe otherwise.

I say this because most of them will consistently deny that most servers are either very empty or near death. They deny it to the point that if you were to show them any evidence of this server population deficiency (let's say the evidence is people on the forums begging for server merges, TORStatus.com and screenshots of empty fleets), they will persist with denial. Usually, citing that they see no issue with population. But...

...I'm sure that has nothing to do with the fact the ones claiming there is no problem are usually on the two or three populated servers.


Anyhoo...Let's talk about how linear SWTOR is!

Now, I understand that a video game can only offer so much as far as exploration goes... But in SWTOR, it's almost as if they just cut the idea of adventure out completely.

First, Bioware claimed all this unique story, decisions matter blah blah blah. I will tell you that, not only are the "class" stories not "unique" because most of the stories (if not all) revolve around the same plot (Hunt this guy down, Stop this super weapon, Hunt this guy down)and they only count for about 10% of the missions. The rest of the missions are all the same for EVERYONE on your faction.


No, it isn't like alot of other MMOs where you have some type of option as to where you might want to do missions... unless you just completely skip those around your level. This is because you follow an invisible path that takes you from quest hub to quest hub, planet to planet etc. If you've played Rift and Warhammer you will know what I mean. Ironically, people from the Warhammer team helped with SWTOR...go figure.

The linearity of SWTOR is so bad that it made it VERY hard for me to make alts after 50. It's worse than a grind. It feels like TORTURE. I know, I know! "But on the SWTOR forum, people say they love making alts!" Yeah, that's because most people that have a bunch of alts still aren't level 50, barely play the game and/or are loyal to anything Bioware does. Probably even working for Bioware.

 I actually had to skip most of the missions on my alt and do PvP for levels just to  get through the tedious grind. PvP was a little better but after doing 100's of matches of the same three maps, I am sure you can imagine that also gets old too.

Transition!


Oh man...end game/ normal content. Wow, not only was it broken, it was broken with the most stupid things I have ever seen in a game. And what made it worse, it's almost as if none of it was tested!

OH WAIT!...It probably wasn't because Bioware didn't allow players to have pre-made max level characters in beta nor did they allow it in this new 1.2 patch (which is why it is failure already; No ranked warzones, overpowered tank assassin class, matches usually unbalanced).

You had things like tons of mobs coming out of no where, couldn't delete missions to the point you HAD to do them, you die when you zone in to a instance after a wipe, bosses spawn that didn't reset, boss mechanics not working properly, companions not working properly, getting stuck on your ship etc etc. Some of these issues had work arounds, most didn't.  It was almost as if I we were playing a beta SWTOR still.   It was so frustrating, people would vent in guild chat, in general chat, on the forums, on my sleep, on my blog...well, you get the picture.

Another problem I have with SWTOR is the lifelessness. When every mob seems like it's just sitting there, waiting for you to kill it, there is no thrill in that. It's boring. Not only that, but ALL the mobs are usually spread out in the same format /pattern almost as if they just copy and pasted them up and down. Then having to dig your way through a tunnel of enemies only to have to dig yourself back through them...ugh.


Friday, March 23, 2012

Quit SWTOR. Sucked Then, Sucks Now, Will Suck in 1.2 PT.1

Seems alot of SWTOR players have forgotten the rocky road torwards SWTOR's launch which stilll continues it's jagged path today but I'll try to refresh their memory. It's kind of hard to say anything good about the way Bioware handled all of this because most of it was bad.

I followed the SWTOR development on and off since 2008. Coincidentally, I was in my "star wars fanboy" phase and playing Star Wars: Jedi Knight Academy a ton. So you can imagine I was pretty excited when I heard about Star Wars: The Old Republic being in development.

Not only this but I was a huge Bioware fan after Mass Effect and Dragon Age: Origins.



I never paid attention to the forum that much except for a quick peek to see what the community was talking about. It's better to stay away from the forums before the game is released since it's mainly filled with people dreaming and hoping (sometimes dictating) about what will be in the game.

Some years later with Bioware releasing small amounts of content /information on the game, I start to get the feeling the game isn't all it was being hyped up to be.

 Well, that along with the EA Louse thing and Warhammer team working on SWTOR...

Fast forward. Bioware dodging questions, still barely any info on SWTOR, strict NDA beta.

 I actually managed to find more "information" on SWTOR and got into beta. I pretty much went along with the whole "It's beta! It will get better!" idea people usually use to justify their favorite game looking nothing like what they imagined.  And though I turned my hype meter off long ago after disappointing games like Warhammer and APB...There was something about this game that was...wrong.



Fast forward. Bioware focusing more on hyping SWTOR, launching with tons of bugs and broken features, Wiped forum of past evidence.

SWTOR is launching with it's "early access" plan over a seven day period. Not only was this probably the worse idea ever, but it made it the worse MMO launch I have ever experienced.

Basically, people who paid the SAME PRICE for the game had to wait in a "que". This que was Bioware letting players into the game in order by which month they bought the game. Now I hope you can imagine how much the forums were on fire at this time. It was the people who were already in the game proclaiming how well a job Bioware was doing vs. angry customers who were...well..angry.

Biowares' whole reasoning for what they label as a "staggered release" was you create a "smooth launch". In other words, they wanted to pretend the servers were stable and would NOT have player ques by letting players in slowly...

That would have been acceptable I suppose...if it actually worked. Which it didn't.


Not only were the servers dead and empty because of this, but there were STILL huge ques. I'm talking, "Wait three hours to get in the game." ques. Then I get into the game and there is barely anyone to play with for group content.

Fast Forward. Leveled up, dealing with tons of bugs (some game breaking, some just annoying) and forum wars continue. Also, tons of exploiters either getting rich off the Slicing. Which nothing was done. In fact, there is a post on the official forums asking how many are millionaires.

Bioware gets tons of negative feedback on the forum about the amount of bugs and broken content. My guild is literally raging, myself included, about how much of the game is either not working properly or just frustrating. Bioware seeks to remedy this by releasing patches.

Now...normally, patches are supposed to "FIX" the game. Most of the patches released either didn't fix what they claimed to be fixing, made things worse or went into the game in what appeared to be untested states.

They claimed to had fixed "ability delay" (When you attempt to click your skills, it won't work if it's right after you do another skill. This leads to you not really being able to time attacks or have fluent effective combat responses) which was still very much in the game. They released the notorious "Ilum patch". Now, EVERYONE knew this patch was going to completely destroy Ilum content. There were so many post about it on the forum Bioware just seemingly ignored.



Well, not seemingly, they DID ignore them because they went ahead and patch it anyways. And sure enough what happened? Here's a clue for those that don't play SWTOR:

There are two factions. One Empire and one Republic.What used to happen was these factions would take turns destroying each others "war assests" which I agree should have been changed. However,
 on almost EVERY server, the Empire outnumber the Republic about 3:1.

The patch Bioware added to the game was one that would FORCE players to fight each other OR collect these "armaments" which have a slow respawn, are only in ONE place and you have to gather 30 of them.

Not only did this destroy Ilum as a "world PvP" zone. It helped most of the Empire players max out their valor ranks in ONE day. They did this by camping the Republic base due to sheer numbers. The guns that were SUPPOSED to keep them out were not working properely (go figure Bioware) and there was low FPS.

What did Bioware do to fix this? Nothing. What did Bioware do to fix the fact tons of Empire/Republic players gained max or near max valor in one day? Nothing.


To be continued....I'll discuss how linear the game is, how broken the end game content was/is, how there is no soul to the game and why legacy 1.2 will not fix the core problems with the game.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

"Entitled Generation"...

Probably the worst phrase I've ever seen become"cool" to say on gaming forums. What makes it worse for me is that, the phrase seems to be used usually against people who have disagreements about ideas, features or what not of the said game.

I started to notice the phrase usage on the SWTOR forum. Usually,  people would complain and then you would have a few responding with "Entitled Generation" to quell the upset...However, fact is they didn't realise that if they EVER complained about anything, (and most people have) they also have felt "entitled" at that point in time.

I feel some gamers act as if though video games are free and "I" owe the company my devoted love and affection to them no matter what they do.

If anything, they owe me more than a game I can beat in one day.

Why is that? Because...

Developers and publishers(big companies) get rich off of their fans and they RARELY, if ever, give  anything back to their devoted  fans.

Only time they consider giving is at the time they need you and your friends to buy their products.

And no, DLC and MTs are not "giving" back.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

SWTOR's "Social" System is a Huge Flawed Design / No Community PT.2

Most of us know that the "Social" system is nothing more than a tedious grind. Not only is it a tedious grind, it's about as "social" as FaceBook and Twitter are.

The "Social" system is NOT being social. It's as artificial as it gets.

SEEING AS HOW LEGACY, CHARACTER, and VALOR LEVELS ARE ALL 50+, I THINK IT'S SAFE TO ASSUME WHAT "SOCIAL" LEVELS CAN REACH...

At the start of this game, the only way you would have a real chance of getting your social level high was by grouping non-stop. Good thing there was very little reason to group other than with flashpoints and heroic areas. Most of which still gained you either no social points or very little.

If you hadn't focused on the "social" levels from the start ( And sadly most of us didn't as this game never really made grouping a selling point but rather an after thought), you are probably either grinding Esseles or trying to get into as many groups as you can for points.

Which is fine.I guess.

If that's what people consider is "standard" in "all" games they play, mindless grinding, then more power to them. However, while they can keep their "social" grind system in place I feel you should NOT have to go through this on every single character. I don't want to "grind" social levels on all my alts especially when "people"  keep implying that "rolling alts is the end game".

Most servers are dead or near dead at peak times and very rarely do I find people in that want to even group for heroics. If a month or less, I am almost very sure there will be no one doing them at all. So I shouldn't have to miss out on things just because no one wants to do it or Bioware has succeeded in creating the most antisocial "MMO" ever.

I feel there is no logical reason to grind all your characters social levels just to wear "social" gear. Social gear, you know the stuff most role-players want, is a slap in the face to people that want to role-play to begin with. Not only do they need to be a certain player level, but ALSO a social level?

Anyways...

Social System is flawed and if Bioware wants to keep this flawed idea in the game, at least make it less of a burden by making the levels pass on to your alts.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Stop Calling MO's in Disguise "MMO's"...

MMORPG or Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games. I think we "true" MMO fans know what I am talking about

You know, the "MMORPGS" that aren't really MMORPG's but rather games marked "MMOs" to get a piece of the World of Warcraft action. Countless games have been released  post-WoW and always under the genre of "MMOs".

Which "MMOs" am I referring to you ask?

Well let's look at a list of games I can think of off my head first.

All Points Bulletin - APB
World of Warcraft - WOW
Star Wars: The Old Republic - SWTOR
Hellgate: London - HGL
Guild Wars - GW
Lineage 2 - L2
Ultima Online - UO
Champions Online - CO
City of Heroes -COX
Global Agenda - GA

Games like APB, Hellgate London, SWTOR, Global Agenda and Guild Wars (1 not 2) just to name ones I have played personally.

Games like these aren't "real" MMOs in my opinion mainly because  there is very little that is "massive" about these games and usually no real role-playing elements in them (For the ones that include RPG at the end that is).

You will find that some of these games aren't labelled as MMO "RPGS" but rather MMO "FPS". I like to throw role-playing into the social department though which also makes up what an MMO"RPG" is.


Back on point!

 The major things you would notice about some of these games is that the world isn't "restricted" or "guided" as other "MMOs" are. Basically, there is something "massive" about some of these game other than the amount of players subscribed to it for it.

Take World of Warcraft and Lineage 2 vs Star Wars: The Old Republic and Global Agenda for example .

When you play WoW it feels like a world. I can explore, even do things like running my low level from one side of the world to the other. Same goes with Lineage 2. If I don't like my questing area, I could leave and go to another area. It may take some time, but I have a "choice".

Now let's look at SWTOR.

I am restricted to one starting zone until I become level 10. Once I get to level 10, I go to the Republic Fleet , which is obviously encouraged as it has ALL the things you need ironically in an unending circle,(Which is a "hub".For those not sure what a "Hub" is, it's a place created specifically to get players to gather. It's similar to what World of Warcraft did with their Cataclysm expansion)and I can only go to ONE planet until I finish my class mission and get my ship (unless I join someone else on their ship).

Also, SWTOR is heavily instanced akin to APB, which doesn't promote a "massive" experience but rather persistent social hubs. Likewise with Global Agenda, after your first mission and few levels, you are sent to the "central" area where all of the things you need are there.

Games like SWTOR and Global Agenda...AREN'T MMOS. Period. They are "MO's", Multiplayer Online. I say this because once you start "instancing" everything outside of strategic content (usually done to prevent outside interference from completing a specific goal) the game usually is no longer an MMO.

Especially when it's done in the fashion that you can only have 100 or less players in each instance.

What makes it worse is that you don't even have a "choice" to make it a massive experience in games like Global Agenda, SWTOR and APB. They are dictated to you through FORCED instance placement once an area because "full".

So please, stop calling social hub instanced games "MMOs".

I know these developers call there games "MMOs" but the reality is they are not making anything "massive" other than hype.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

I Used to Think I Was Done With Middle-Age Fantasy Games...Until I Took SWTOR to the Knee.

Either that number is fabricated, based on something else or just not even close to that. And I don't believe anything that comes from EA because anyone not a game industry "noob" knows what EA is good for.

And it ain't customer support.

WE DON'T LIE TO YOU!... UNLESS IT'S ABOUT DLC.



I'm not seeing where these 1.7 million players are in SWTOR.

We have whole guilds that quit the game on my server and my guild makes up the majority of the Republic side active on now.

And most of us are leaving when GW 2 is out.

On top of that, I don't know anyone who either knows this game exist or plays it.
1.7 Million "Active" subscribers...doubt it...

James Ohlen said something a little bit ago about people "wanting SWTOR to fail"...Not only does it make it hard for me to take him serious when resorting to the average forum trolls taunts of  "You're a hater" but I think he just really thinks...that SWTOR is something to be considered "creative". 

Apparently, he is not looking at the same game I am.

The story is very repetitive. Even to the point where ALL the class stories are basically the same. 

"Chase this person down. Stop this "super weapon."

So maybe I am a hater. 

I hate shitty games obviously made with a lack of imagination and effort sheerly for profit.

Monday, February 13, 2012

SWTOR's "Social" System is a Huge Flawed Design / No Community PT.1

 As I struggle through to enjoy SWTOR , I just can't help but wonder if I am being too picky or perhaps just jaded from all the other "Let's get rich quick!" MMO schemes that have been run into the ground post 2004.

Many things bother me about how this game is designed...however, there are just somethings in this game which I can't understand how it was even thought of as a "good idea".

MMORPG.

The main aspect and reason "MMORPG" fans play them is to play with others. At least that's what I think!...

Basically, being social. 

Even this game is about that... but done completely wrong.

Being "social" in this game is as artifical as it gets. It's not really being "social" when you have to reward players or lure them with bait just to communicate/play with other players.

Social in SWTOR means grind in SWTOR.

A "Social" Life That Is!
I used to loathe people spamming general chat but I feel I'd rather see that now then no one saying anything at all other than "LFG HAMMER STATION" and NPC chat spam.

In fact, in game, there is no real community to be "social" with to begin with. And don't even get me started on the polarized forum community...

Back on point...social is a grind.

And that is mainly because being "social" has rewards that are given as an incentive to get people to group because I feel they [Bioware] knew there wouldn't be a desire for player to want to play with others. Not only is it a grind. It's a tedious boring grind. Even worse when you have to sit through dialogue you have heard 10 million times because one person in your group hasn't. Especially those who only came for "story".

Anyways...

Not only was the "social" system a bad idea, it was created in lackluster fashion. As it stands now, people just grind Esseles over and over. You know why I think that is?

Because most people that play this game didn't  group for every single mission they had when they started the game. Gasp. Just like in other MMOs, most people will solo what they can and group when needed. And it didn't really help that the social points aren't even rewarding decent amounts of points.

Also, who really wants to go through all of that again on an alt?