Pre-release thread discussion

[Sobelius]

My consular wasn't quite that naive. But I did play up the humble servant of people in need angle a lot. Qyzen was NOT amused.

I just liked the theme of a very humble and peaceful consular who is trying to do his thing in the galaxy, and sighs deeply and atones any time he needs to Force Brain anyone with a priceless urn or droid.

I think I once managed to talk my way out of a fight. Every other time "this doesn't need to come to violence" never actually makes it not come to violence. I think that line just infuriates Sith.

These are the kinds of things I never hear anyone saying about playing other MMOs -- and it makes me glad to know there's something to talk about other than skill trees and stat bumps.

One of my friends loves Vette's shock collar and uses it on her frequently. (I don't think I'll get the same pleasure from it that he seems to.) But it's a refreshingly different conversation about an MMO experience.

[lamaros]

But in the fiction of the world there is more than 1 elf mage. It's entirely possible for there to be 400 of them in an area (unless your personal fiction is you are the LAST ONE ALIVE, which is hard to maintain unless the game makes that the premise)

Heck, four troopers would make perfect RP sense.

I only meant the mages comment in regard to the assertion that "everything is in our heads anyway", not in regards to SWTOR.

The suspension of disbelief in SWTOR is that all those other Jedi Knights aren't on the same super mission you are, and you just happen to meet them in the world to team up and do X activity. But you're still the only one doing your great personal quest.

I guess I get this, it just seems a strange ruse for a multi-player game to go with "you're the hero of the world, and though those others look like they might be too, don't believe it for a second!" than "you're all in this together".

[tmp]

I guess I get this, it just seems a strange ruse for a multi-player game to go with "you're the hero of the world, and though those others look like they might be too, don't believe it for a second!" than "you're all in this together".

I don't think the MMO setup explicitly rules out others from being heroes as well -- the part that's make-believe is that they're being heroes by doing missions other than the very ones you did yourself, not whether they do anything heroic at all.

[Amaron]

This is the answer that makes most sense to me. (I still don't know why people are buying MMOs if they mostly want a single player game, though.)

You're thinking wayyy too hard.  Some of the time you want to take the character you played in your single player game and do some persistent multiplayer stuff.   It's that simple.

[kildorn]

You can assume everyone has a mission, they're just not on YOUR mission. You have a story arc that is yours, and you just kind of forget that everyone else is on it as well.

When you team up, you just weave in the fiction that these are people you found/hired/whatevered and are storming this rebel hideout with. The fact that they are your same character class is meaningless, because your class isn't what makes the character unique.

If anything, the jarring bit would be another Male Jedi Knight who sounds just like you. But you just have to roll with that. It's the same odd feeling when you see a youtube video of the WRONG GODDAMNED SHEPARD speaking with your Shepard's voice.

quick edit: Jesus christ, am I really arguing that stats and whatnot don't matter, and it's all about the evolution of the narrative fiction? What the fuck?

[Lantyssa]

Welcome to the Dark Side, my young apprentice.

[Surlyboi]

It's really not that hard to get over the mechanics and just enjoy your playing.

[Fordel]

I guess I get this, it just seems a strange ruse for a multi-player game to go with "you're the hero of the world, and though those others look like they might be too, don't believe it for a second!" than "you're all in this together".

Except the game doesn't tell you this at all. You aren't the CHOSEN ONE or anything. You are exceptional yes, but there are other exceptional people too, on both sides of the conflict. The Galaxy is a big place, there are plenty of Imps for the other Troopers to go squash.

[Mattemeo]

Jesus christ, am I really arguing that stats and whatnot don't matter, and it's all about the evolution of the narrative fiction? What the fuck?

You are the music maker, you are the dreamer of dreams
Wandering by lone RNG-breakers, sitting at desolate screens
Roll loser and rule forsaker, on whom the pale dice gleams
Yet you are the mover and shaker, of the world forever, it seems.

[Sjofn]

But in the fiction of the world there is more than 1 elf mage. It's entirely possible for there to be 400 of them in an area (unless your personal fiction is you are the LAST ONE ALIVE, which is hard to maintain unless the game makes that the premise)

Heck, four troopers would make perfect RP sense.

I only meant the mages comment in regard to the assertion that "everything is in our heads anyway", not in regards to SWTOR.

That's not quite what I'm saying. I honestly can't explain it any better, though. But it doesn't bother me to run into another elf mage when I myself am an elf mage. Partly because of course there are other elf mages. That elf mage might even be good at the same things mine is good at. S/he might look like me. But s/he isn't me. S/he's not having the same experience I am. I don't dislike him or her any more than the other people in the movie theater I'm watching a movie at. We're all having a shared, similar experience. But none of them are going to take the same shit away from it I am. A lot of them probably aren't even there for the same reasons I am.


EDIT: I mean shit, thinking about the "we're all elf mages" thing. There are plenty of ways that can be a diverse experience. You put a lot of damn emphasis on fluff that ultimately, in a character sense, is superficial.

[lamaros]

It's not a real example, it's a discussion point. I was going to put in "of course, all of us being elf mages could actually be fun in a couple of ways once or twice", but I assumed people would understand the point and not the specific example I gave.

I'm not sure where all this negative energy you are associating with me comes from. I'm not saying your child is ugly and a hate him...

Anyway, I don't get it and you don't get what I'm asking, but there's no point dragging it out anymore. Enjoy the game, I hope it's fun times.

[Sky]

P.S. Sky, that screenshot... those are on the lowest graphics? or is that a joke screenshot from another game? (not really following this anywhere outside this forum, but still interested)

It's from the login screen. Normally you're never zoomed in that close, it does look worse than I remember it in the actual game (the blurry texture). It looks as bad as the first night I was complaining before I fixed it via restart, so I wonder if there's a low res thing for the select screen or something. The graphics certainly aren't Skyrim, but I like them. Here's what he looks like at a normal zoom level in the character creator (I took screens of my 8 intended launch dudes to remember the settings!):

Well given that most of us probably spend 90% of our time in MMOs solo, a much-improved solo experience (to me anyway) seems like a pretty big leap forward.

Not to mention that bizarrely I'm excited for grouping and led many groups through the two beta weekends. I mean...that's the express to crazy town, right there.

Following the vein of response spam: my Guardian is a fan of "Death is part of the natural order of the universe" or whatever that line is. I heard that one a few times, NOT SURE WHY *stab with lightsaber*

[Numtini]

You can assume everyone has a mission, they're just not on YOUR mission. You have a story arc that is yours, and you just kind of forget that everyone else is on it as well.

That gets awful hard when they have the exact same best friend helping them.

[tmp]

A RNG for companions appearance (or a way to tweak their sliders. or both) would be nice.

[Sjofn]

They do have ways to change their appearance but yeah, more of those with easier access to them would be nice. Although I honestly didn't really care with regards to the first companion for consulars, all those lizard dudes look the same to me anyway.    And for the knights, a T7 is a T7 is a T7. :P

[tmp]

But the droids could totally have swappable heads/legs/whatevers

[Fordel]

They do have appearance kits that basically do that.

[Sjofn]

It's one of those things that will probably happen eventually (beyond what they already have now, of course), but it's not important enough for release, so it gets punted along. Every captain in LotRO had the same hobo following them around at first, after all.

[taolurker]

You can assume everyone has a mission, they're just not on YOUR mission. You have a story arc that is yours, and you just kind of forget that everyone else is on it as well.

That gets awful hard when they have the exact same best friend helping them.

This was the more glaring immersion break than a group of duplicates of me all standing around quest NPCs with ellipses over their heads.

I still don't see how this game equates to a subscription, or where there's all this massive content to consume. I also am willing to bet no one from this site who buys this at launch will be around 2 months into live.

[Sjofn]

If you honestly mean "no one," I will take that bet. 

[Sobelius]

It's one of those things that will probably happen eventually (beyond what they already have now, of course), but it's not important enough for release, so it gets punted along. Every captain in LotRO had the same hobo following them around at first, after all.

And tailors craft the variant Captain followers out of cloth patterns!

[Sjofn]

I actually was kinda fond of my hobo, back in the day. I did eventually magically poof him into a mustached red-head, though. He was pretty adorable.

[Sobelius]

If you honestly mean "no one," I will take that bet. 

And you'll win, per my previous post on this topic. I'm pretty sure I'll be subbed for a year just due to my glacial pace of content consumption.

[Sjofn]

You and I can chat about boys or whatever when no one else is there any more. 

[tmp]

Hmm on rather unrelated note went to check the classes list on the swtor webside, and it seems that for some unexplained reasons since last i saw it they've replaced the female consular with a fat dude in a dress. Weird.

And yes, he tosses the oil tanks

[Sjofn]

The fat dude in a dress has been around for a while, I thought? I didn't actually even realize there had been a chick consular person at all! I'm terrible at this.

[tmp]

That's possible, it's been really loooong time when i last saw it. They still didn't have all starships announced yet, i think?

[kildorn]

I don't think I ever actually saw an oil tank. A few droids, a LOT of valuable looking ancient pottery.

[Sobelius]

You and I can chat about boys or whatever when no one else is there any more. 

Absolutely. I do my best to make a few beefcake toons when I can, but I'm also partial to making psychotic looking toons as well. I loved my fully pierced and tatted BH.

[Amaron]

I still don't see how this game equates to a subscription, or where there's all this massive content to consume. I also am willing to bet no one from this site who buys this at launch will be around 2 months into live.

I'll be playing quite a lot and it will still take me at least 2 months just to play through all the storylines.

[eldaec]

You can assume everyone has a mission, they're just not on YOUR mission. You have a story arc that is yours, and you just kind of forget that everyone else is on it as well.

That gets awful hard when they have the exact same best friend helping them.

This was the more glaring immersion break than a group of duplicates of me all standing around quest NPCs with ellipses over their heads.

I still don't see how this game equates to a subscription, or where there's all this massive content to consume. I also am willing to bet no one from this site who buys this at launch will be around 2 months into live.

2 months seems like a low estimate, but aside from Sjofn (who is a special case and will probably need additional subscriptions to fit in all the alts) pretty much everyone posting here has said they expect the fun to run out in months rather than years.

[Sjofn]

You and I can chat about boys or whatever when no one else is there any more. 

Absolutely. I do my best to make a few beefcake toons when I can, but I'm also partial to making psychotic looking toons as well. I loved my fully pierced and tatted BH.

Ahaha, that dude means business. I bet he always gets paid on time.

I didn't take any screen shots of my people, I am terrible at this.

Also, eldaec, I ... probably won't need a second account. Probably.

[Wolf]

well you have 8 slots, and basically 8 classes, with 8 stories. I can't really think of a reason to have two accounts. Then again, we had a disc priest that had 3 disc priests on our server, 2 alliance, 1 horde and another one on a different server. She was a bit crazy.

[Ingmar]

Sjofn has like 15 paladins.

[cironian]

I did remember to make a screenshot of the settings, but looking at it now all my screenshots came out completely black. Yay, beta!