SWTOR

[Nevermore]

Every time I hear one of the devs talk about how different SWTOR is going to be, I get an image of Vanilla Ice explaining how his song is different from David Bowie's.

I'm surprised you were still able to post so soon after that orgasm you had in the GW2 thread.

[Lantyssa]

I was enjoying the endorphins by the time it reached the end of the Q&A.  I didn't want to stop to post.

[Lakov_Sanite]

The inception meme got me hard. 

[Sky]

Every time I hear one of the devs talk about how different SWTOR is going to be, I get an image of Vanilla Ice explaining how his song is different from David Bowie's.

To be fair, he was under a lot of pressure at the time.

[Evildrider]

Every time I hear one of the devs talk about how different SWTOR is going to be, I get an image of Vanilla Ice explaining how his song is different from David Bowie's.

To be fair, he was under a lot of pressure at the time.

Ya, Vanilla Ice was totally feeling the pressure at the time.  All the haters.

[Rasix]

All the haters.  "People on the street" you might call them.   

[Mattemeo]

Can you blame them? It's the terror of knowing what this world is about.

[Montague]

I hope to hell that there's one more round of beta invites. I would hate to pre-order solely to get access to the "head-start" test/magic patch is coming period.

They just said there is a new build coming in a few days.  Full character wipes and such incoming.

Heard a rumor that they may be cancelling the beta weekends until further notice. Truth?

[CmdrSlack]

I hope to hell that there's one more round of beta invites. I would hate to pre-order solely to get access to the "head-start" test/magic patch is coming period.

They just said there is a new build coming in a few days.  Full character wipes and such incoming.

Heard a rumor that they may be cancelling the beta weekends until further notice. Truth?

Oh, FFS. Let me out.

[koro]

I hope to hell that there's one more round of beta invites. I would hate to pre-order solely to get access to the "head-start" test/magic patch is coming period.

They just said there is a new build coming in a few days.  Full character wipes and such incoming.

Heard a rumor that they may be cancelling the beta weekends until further notice. Truth?

Oh, FFS. Let me out.

It's not quite "until further notice" but it's not far from it. I guess they're not technically canceled either; it seems to be more of a case of poor timing.

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=8927958#post8927958

[Nevermore]

Or set encounters so that you don't need to have specific "specs" in the first place. More than one way to skin a cat and all that shit.

Oh wait, that's too hard.

Actually it isn't just hard, it is pretty much impossible. You can design encounters so any group can finish them, sure, but even if you do that they'll always be easier with some specific configuration - unless you make them so easy they're trivial for anyone, which would be the lamest possible choice.

This is exactly what GW2 is claiming they're doing with their game.  No 'holy trinity', bring any spec you want and you can finish their dungeons.  Just grab some of your friends, no matter what they're playing, and go.  So what you're saying is GW2 is going to flop horribly because the content will be impossible to balance (either too hard and their design goal of 'bring anyone' won't be true or it'll be too easy and people will just bring the most efficient specs to blow through the content with no challange)?

What I find interesting is the bar is being set so high for GW2 that even if it turns out to be an outstanding game, some people might still be disappointed.  It seems like voice chat is going to be all but required for any group activity for one, considering how they've describing how they want teams to perform.

On the other hand, the bar is being set so low for SWTOR now (lol WoW in space) that some people might actually end up pleasantly surprised if all Bioware manages to do is make a mildly entertaining game with a veneer of a story stapled onto it.

[Ingmar]

I think GW1's dungeons are the weakest part of their content, and I'll be surprised if they can actually deliver on all these promises they're making. It might just be that they're all so easy you can sleepwalk through them with a full group of all one class. That would be pretty disappointing from my point of view.

I'm not really planning to buy GW2 day of release anyway, the two main things I liked about GW1 aren't in it, and it doesn't seem like the sort of game where getting in on the leveling train with everyone else will matter anyway (although, 80 levels...). I'm content to wait and see if their execution can meet their ambition there. SWTOR just seems more up my alley (and it happens to have the companion NPCs that have gone missing in GW, that's a huge draw for me.)

[UnSub]

Further to that, as Chris Collins explained in another thread, we are about to roll out a major new build for The Old Republic. That build won't be ready for this weekend. Just as we did not feel it was a good decision to ask potential EU testers to download our client only to have to download it again, the same applies for this weekend.

So why roll out a beta weekend before a major build then? Other than for marketing purposes.

Oh, and the "we don't have a tank class" is because they technically don't have a class called 'tank', but everyone will still quickly recognise what the best tanking classes are.

[Mosesandstick]

Tanking is mainly determined by spec, and at the same time there's no dual spec in the game.

[Sjofn]

No dual spec (at the very least) would be a huuuuuge mistake not to have at launch, I really hope the beta-ers get through to them on that.

[koro]

No dual spec (at the very least) would be a huuuuuge mistake not to have at launch, I really hope the beta-ers get through to them on that.

People try, but between the segment of the testing base that has drank the kool-aid to the point where any QOL improvement idea is seen as some sort of attack that must be defended against and the near-silent dev team (I mean I know why they're silent, but still), it's an uphill battle.

[Sjofn]

Yeah, I'm not super optimistic about it, and it's a shame. The fact they said they're not opposed to it makes me hopeful it'll be in sooner rather than later, but it really should be in at release.

/preaches to the choir, baby

[Shatter]

Further to that, as Chris Collins explained in another thread, we are about to roll out a major new build for The Old Republic. That build won't be ready for this weekend. Just as we did not feel it was a good decision to ask potential EU testers to download our client only to have to download it again, the same applies for this weekend.

So why roll out a beta weekend before a major build then? Other than for marketing purposes.

Oh, and the "we don't have a tank class" is because they technically don't have a class called 'tank', but everyone will still quickly recognise what the best tanking classes are.

You can take any MMO and not call any class a tank and quickly figure out which ones are best at it and which suck.  There will always be some class that will stand out as best heals, best tank, best DPS, etc which is pretty much why Im sure the GW2 holy trinity hype is plain BS.  Eventually people will figure out on harder content that X class does it best combined with Y and Z classes whereas any other class just makes it harder.  Or there will be classes who AE better or classes who have abilities that outperform others on specific areas, etc. 

[UnSub]

Agreed. "We don't have a tanking class" isn't code for "there are no such thing as tanks in this game", but it is often interpreted as such and as some evidence that the Trinity has been vanquished.

[eldaec]

The many many developer walkthroughs explaining how player x will be the 'tank' or 'healer' for a given scenario are also something of a giveaway.

[Surlyboi]

Can you blame them? It's the terror of knowing what this world is about.

Watching pick up groups scream, "let me out"?

[Sky]

Watching pick up groups scream, "let me out"?

Maybe if they'd just stop, collaborate and listen.

And the tank class thing is just a sloppy phrasing. Just saying you can spec an AC into different roles. Which you unfortunately are stuck with, kind of defeating the coolness of that feature. Hell, I'm about as close as they come to a mitichlorian koolaid drinker around here and that's close to being a deal-breaker for me.

[Hutch]

Watching pick up groups scream, "let me out"?

Maybe if they'd just stop, collaborate and listen.

[eldaec]

If they hold the line, stop pandering to wowtard raiders, and make the game and content development focussed on alts & story, the multi spec thing isn't nearly such a big deal.

CoX doesn't miss multispec for instance.

[Paelos]

The one mistake SWTOR can't make is pandering to the WoW raiding crowd. That's no-win for them. If WoW had tried to launch by out-hardcoring EQ, it would have been stillborn.

[Tyrnan]

If they hold the line, stop pandering to wowtard raiders, and make the game and content development focussed on alts & story, the multi spec thing isn't nearly such a big deal.

CoX doesn't miss multispec for instance.

True, but you don't really need certain archetypes for most of the content in CoX and the trinity isn't really enforced. All Rad/* Defender and */Rad Controller teams are like an unstoppable force of nature, certain builds can solo AVs/GMs, etc. The only thing I can think of where people were asking for specific archetypes/powersets are 'Master of' attempts or the iTrials.

I'll still play TOR whether multispec is in for launch or not but I'd still like to see it. Unless they've designed the trees so that heal- and tank-specced classes can still solo decent ease and speed.

[Kirth]

NDA still up?

[Tyrnan]

NDA still up?

According to today's FAQ (http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=479052) it is

[Kirth]

I have not canceled my pre-order. I also am not resubbing to WoW (though I have been playing eq2 again...  )

[Rasix]

My preorder will stay in place.  Not sure it'll process since I had to get my card reissued (XBL account hacked) since placing it.  That's a little troubling.

Still no desire to go back to WoW or any other diku.  I wish the NDA was down already, but alas.  I have a lot of very uninteresting thoughts about this game.

[amiable]

I have not canceled my pre-order. I also am not resubbing to WoW (though I have been playing eq2 again...   )

Jesus Kirth, what is wrong with you?  Don't you know this game is terrible and you don't like it?

[fuser]

My preorder will stay in place.  Not sure it'll process since I had to get my card reissued (XBL account hacked) since placing it.  That's a little troubling.

Mine is staying also but I got the game for $39, but I have resubbed to WoW in the mean time. It's going to be interesting if the beta weekends resume next week.

[Kirth]

I have not canceled my pre-order. I also am not resubbing to WoW (though I have been playing eq2 again...   )

Jesus Kirth, what is wrong with you?  Don't you know this game is terrible and you don't like it?

Come on now, EQ2 is not that bad. Its a little rough around the edges ... oh wait...

[luckton]

Just got my pre-order setup at the local Buy More.  Though I'm kinda hoping they do the same thing with TOR as they did with DE:HR...only the "big box" stores got the copies, and I'm think that would give me grounds to call corporate and demand a discount for having to drive further to pick up a product that could have easily been shipped to everybody  

[ezrast]

CoX doesn't miss multispec for instance.

Some of that might be due to the fact that CoX has multispec. 

(not that you're wrong; I'm just sayin')