Pre-release thread discussion

[Morfiend]

Ok, what's the anti-clownsuit button?

It was a toggle in the preferences that would take what ever item was in your "chest" slot, and copy the texture and color to all your other visible items. It was removed two beta weekends ago. The rumor is that its to help them find items with missing textures. That sounds a bit far fetched, but I cant think of a better reason.

Although RMT might be one.

[koro]

The color match button's removal and subsequent discussion/bitchfest was also accompanied by a couple posts from Georg "German Ghostcrawler" Zoeller saying that if people wanted the option's return, to post a lot about it.

Which leads me to believe it wasn't done for entirely datamining/bugfixing purposes.

[kildorn]

So wait, if I pop a high rating mod into my lightsaber, it's damage rating changes?

If so: what the shit is the point of gear crafting? Mod crafting would be the only actual market.

Cosmetic look I guess. But are mods not made by the same people that make the stuff that the mods go into? I haven't really looked at crafting.

Armstech made barrel mods, but the others came from.. artificing? Something like that.

I figured I could alter items with mods, but not change the core stats so I wind up with a level 50 version of my level 10 lightsaber or whatever.

I guess this system would make a lot more sense to me if the mods said things like "lightsaber damage: X-Y", I thought things like dps were static.

[Montague]

Just new PCs.

I forgot to mention one hugely annoying thing for Jedi Knights.  Your first companion is a ranged tank, but everything closes in on him for melee.   so you either never use force jump or you have to stand way back and then jump in after sending the pet in.  Was a bit of a nuisance to me.  Then again, when you first get him, he's wasting 3-4 mobs in the time you kill one.   

That's not them closing in. That's a "Tow Cable" ability that functions like the Death Knight Death Grip ability. Turn it off active and you can Force Jump to your hearts content.

[Ingmar]

Yeah it isn't very evident that the mods actually upgrade the base item along with their stat mods.

[ghost]

This thread (and game) appear to be really going places.  

[Pezzle]

Never used the option.  I make fun of my mismatched companions anyway.  

[Mosesandstick]

There's only one mod that increases the stats of the base item, it's the one that has a "rating".

[kildorn]

I do find it funny that in a world with lightsabers, the crafting system has a whole mess of melee weapons to make, but not a single lightsaber.

Get your companion weapons and vibroknives! Nothing anyone else will ever use!

Also that a "techblade" means anything from a giant staff to a vibrosword model to a really mean looking actual sword.

[Hawkbit]

I feel a bit left behind for the first time in a while.  I simply don't understand the love-froth going on with this game.  It is bland, ugly and almost entirely derivative.  Admittedly, the lightside/darkside conversation dynamic is new and interesting.  But so were RIFTs the first time I saw them.  After a few days of both it will be tiresome. 

I've found a real appreciation in EverQuest over the past few years, although I can't bring myself to play it again.  I suspect it comes back to what Engels posted on the last page; modern MMOs make the player into a hero, when in fact it isn't possible to have a server full of heroes. 

I'm not generally a big fan of shitting all over things other people are having fun with, but this game is a new low in online games.  It utterly fails to innovate and inspire.

[Ingmar]

Why should I care about innovation? Serious question. Nearly all of the best games I've played have been iterative, not innovative.

[ghost]

Warhammer Online had some very innovative stuff and it was a pile of shit.  Of course I'm expecting this game to be a flaming pile of shit just like WHO, but maybe it won't be that bad.  Rift is the ceiling for it though-  mildly interesting for about an hour but bland as hell after that.

[Paelos]

All I know is that after the beta, I want to log in and play tonight.

But I have to wait. 

[Ingmar]

Yep. I had to force myself to stop playing it when it won't 'count'.

[Pezzle]

If the thought of Diku makes you violently ill the chances of this game being enjoyable are decreased.  That is not a surprise.

[Numtini]

For me the game was exactly like Warhammer. I played it obsessively until the very second when I just stopped and never wanted to see it again.

[DraconianOne]

I'll fully agree they should have picked a few non-human races, though.  Trandoshan and Wookiee at the very least if they HAVE to keep some part of the human vector because of their modeling skeletons. (I'm betting this human-body crap is because of the 3rd party engine stuff someone else mentioned.)  This is the type of bush league stuff we were expecting when we saw the failed devs from other MMOs being hired to form Bioware Austin.

Still, I have hopes we'll get some of the more interesting non-humans in time.

The reason they originally gave was because of PC romances which means limiting the PC race to something humanoid. With a face. Because getting it on with an Ithorian is just

[taolurker]

Thoughts? Did the Beta make you more or less likely to play?

As I already noted on the landmark 400th page, I really didn't see why I would be paying a subscription to this. I also don't see the box price being worth it either because I see them having a retention problem and major price drops, free trials and/or Pay to Crush coming to this very soon in it's lifespan.

The storylines are very cool, and I can see playing through them, and the cut-scenes are cool, but I really don't like the solo along together feel it had, or the limited enjoyment and set path the storyline would bring. I am an explorer who wants to just wander around, not be led by every single thing I do.

There are a number of us on this board who liked SWG, as there are many who hated it. What do people who liked SWG think of the SWTOR experience?

I was a huge fan of SWG, and played it both before the NGE and after, but this game isn't that. I enjoyed SWG because I was a hoarding, crafting, sandbox player who enjoyed interior decorating and the occasional hunt for crafting materials. All I know of crafting is what I've read, so I can't say if I would enjoy it. This game is less of everything I want in a SW MMO game, and could've been single player KOTOR with enhanced graphics.

This game is what Mass Effect is, with an overall slower feel and dated looking (catoony?) graphics. The benefit I could see to this game is grouping with others, but honestly what I saw was a cut scene heavy single player experience with multiplayer slapped onto it. The MMO is an after-thought, as is much of the UI, animations and feel because of this.

I might get it eventually when the box is less than $20, and do not ever see me subscribing to this. Massive Bioware fail IMO, and EA doesn't like bad subscription stats.


To those of you who are playing or had lots of time in beta: What do you see this game being a month or two after release? How much gameplay does this really equate to? I can't say I want to play it more than a week, possibly two, and I'm interested in what playability you see that I don't.

[kildorn]

Yep. I had to force myself to stop playing it when it won't 'count'.

I logged in tonight to play the first three or so missions of every arch/sex just to see how the acting fit and the general feel. But I'm mostly just going to pretend the beta ended last night and wait for release now.

[kildorn]

I'll fully agree they should have picked a few non-human races, though.  Trandoshan and Wookiee at the very least if they HAVE to keep some part of the human vector because of their modeling skeletons. (I'm betting this human-body crap is because of the 3rd party engine stuff someone else mentioned.)  This is the type of bush league stuff we were expecting when we saw the failed devs from other MMOs being hired to form Bioware Austin.

Still, I have hopes we'll get some of the more interesting non-humans in time.

The reason they originally gave was because of PC romances which means limiting the PC race to something humanoid. With a face. Because getting it on with an Ithorian is just

No T7 romance, no peace.

[Thrawn]

Got my first ship on a character tonight as well as having the 2nd droid companion from crew skills, was a nice step up.  Yes the space battles are just on-rails shooters, but it really opens up a lot of potential and it was a really refreshing change from running errands on Coursant.  Also having my own mobile "headquarters", being able to upgrade my ship, etc, were nice.  So many little bugs in the game, was really annoying having a companion appearing over and over on my ship because he returned from a crew skill mission while I was flying.

[Furiously]

I thought it was hilarious seeing my companion flying around in space.

[Mattemeo]

Hate to say it but you're showing either your age or your lack of SW fandom.  The Chiss are in because they're ultra-badass in the EU and Thrawn is a very popular - if not iconic by now - character.

I don't know who the fuck Thrawn is in the EU, but if he's why we've been lumped with these charmless blue goons, he can go fuck himself :D

Still, I have hopes we'll get some of the more interesting non-humans in time.

Yeah, I can hope but it smacks to me of the WoW devs saying they'd make Goblins a playable race soon before WoW even went live. Cue 6 years later...

[Der Helm]

What drove me nuts where the oneliners all the other player companions fired of all the time. I sure hope that was a bug not a feature.

[Sjofn]

I hope that's a bug too, because I am already sick to death of Mako and Vette.

[Furiously]

How can you be sick of Lacey Chabert?

[Mosesandstick]

To those of you who are playing or had lots of time in beta: What do you see this game being a month or two after release? How much gameplay does this really equate to? I can't say I want to play it more than a week, possibly two, and I'm interested in what playability you see that I don't.

Roughly, this MMORPG starts off as a Bioware RPG (lite) with some MMO elements mixed in, and transitions to a MMO with some Bioware RPG elements mixed in. The amount of time focussed on your own personal story and character development diminishes and the amount of time spent doing more typical MMORPG tasks, such as travelling, bland quests (with VO), heroic dungeon/instances, etc. increases. I think this makes the early levels fairly replayable, I think few people will mind levelling up characters on the different sides and starting planets, however I'd guess that you'd have to be a real DIKU MMO fan to go through the higher planets repeatedly, especially as some of their MMORPG elements seem stuck in the past.

In my second playthrough of the same class I could discern few differences in the experience. You might get a few different lines of dialogue, but I think significant tangible differences can be quite rare, though this might depend on the class story.

Summary: I think early levels will provide replayability but further in there's less to be had. There's tons of "gameplay" to be had, but less unique gameplay than you might expect.

[Sjofn]

How can you be sick of Lacey Chabert?

I dunno which one that is. But it's because I've heard them say the same three things 349861827436825683456236 times.

[Evildrider]

How can you be sick of Lacey Chabert?

I dunno which one that is. But it's because I've heard them say the same three things 349861827436825683456236 times.

"Boom!"


I   Vette.  She makes my Sith Warrior want to be a better man.

[Lucas]

I'll definitely enjoy this game at release: in the end, I managed to play only the Trooper to 12 (did The Esseles flashpoint) and a Sith Warrior to 6.

The flashpoint was great fun with the 3 ppl I grouped with (PUG), reminded me a lot of the same fun I had running the campaign missions in Guild Wars. I'm quite engaged in the story and atmosphere, I really lke everything I've seen and can't wait to play again.

In other words, exactly was I was expecting from this Bioware product: couldn't care less about min/max or diku play, just let me get involved with the stories, crafting, general atmosphere with a good dose of RP here and there :)

[Ingmar]

To those of you who are playing or had lots of time in beta: What do you see this game being a month or two after release? How much gameplay does this really equate to? I can't say I want to play it more than a week, possibly two, and I'm interested in what playability you see that I don't.

Star Wars WoW? I have played WoW pretty consistently for seven years. I don't see a lot about this to make me think it couldn't have similar legs. It will probably take me months just to get through all 8 stories.

[Lucas]

New build tomorrow for general testers (sigh...:P) ; looks like it's going to be the "lauch" build:

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=683363

Hello Testers!

We are preparing to deploy a new build of the game for testing! At 12:00AM CST (6:00 London, 7:00 Paris/Berlin) on 11/29, we will be bringing the all game servers and SWTOR.com down for extended maintenance.

Note to weekend testers: Your phase of the Game Testing Program has now concluded, and you will no longer be able to play the game.

As part of the internal testing and deployment process, the game servers will remain unavailable for ongoing testers after the website is up at 12:00PM CST (18:00 London, 19:00 Paris/Berlin) on 11/29. We will update the stickies in this forum to keep you informed about when the servers will be available again. While we do not currently have an ETA, we expect the servers to be available again this week.


GOOD NEWS ABOUT THE NEW BUILD!
Characters from the last phase of testing will not be wiped and will carry over to the new build of the game!
You will not need to uninstall this build and the new patch will not be the size of a new build! (This means no 20GB download!)

We are excited to get everyone back to testing, as this is our launch build and it will include wide array of improvements, bug fixes, and updates! Your participation and feedback are truly appreciated!

Please watch this thread for any updates or new information as they become available.

[Baldrake]

I'm detecting an interesting trend, that several of my non MMO-playing friends are talking about picking up SWTOR. These are people who passed on WoW, and haven't even heard of other MMOs. It reminds me of 2005 when the most surprising people started turning up with WoW boxes.

[Mosesandstick]

At the very least there's been a large amount of interest from Bioware fans, the majority of testers I've interacted with were Bioware/RPG players.

[Evildrider]

I'm detecting an interesting trend, that several of my non MMO-playing friends are talking about picking up SWTOR. These are people who passed on WoW, and haven't even heard of other MMOs. It reminds me of 2005 when the most surprising people started turning up with WoW boxes.

I'm sure Bioware has quite a few fans that don't play MMO's.