Pre-release thread discussion

[Sjofn]

Sjofn has like 15 paladins.

Two.


Alright, three, if we count the one I've been leveling recently. But that's all!  

And I ... I do see myself potentially wanting two consulars. I really like the sage, but the ... other one (shadow or whatever) also seemed pretty nifty and would go nicely with Boyfriend Candidate #1. Decisions.

[Wolf]

I wanted to link the Gonzalez song decisions, but it was going to take more then a single youtube search and I got distracted.

[Mosesandstick]

And I ... I do see myself potentially wanting two consulars. I really like the sage, but the ... other one (shadow or whatever) also seemed pretty nifty and would go nicely with Boyfriend Candidate #1. Decisions.

I'd do a mirror class first. The replayability is pretty minor.

[Sjofn]

That is not how I roll. I will, of course, have a sith inquisitor (because he is delicious). But I'm serious about kinda wanting my consular to work well with Mr. Potential Boyfriend. At the same time, I would want a sage, because sages are fun and that's the style I'd want to play in a group. And she could have one of the OTHER boyfriends (They get three! That class is trying so hard to win me away from the arms of the smuggler!).


IF THEY ALLOWED AC SWITCHING THIS WOULDN'T BE A GODDAMN PROBLEM

[Dark_MadMax]

Welcome to the Dark Side, my young apprentice.

Hmm now that  you mention it your avatar remind of Lord Zash

[Velorath]

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.

Well no shit, nobody is ready to commit themselves to playing this game for years when it hasn't even launched yet.  Seeing their plans post-launch would be a bigger indicator as to the game's longevity than just about anything I saw playing the beta.  How the game is handled after it releases is pretty damn important.  I thought WAR was a pretty good game for the most part, and was a few tweaks away from being great.  Instead they moved in the wrong direction, adding more xp bars, a required PVE grind for gear needed for PVP, and they thought that the best way to encourage RVR was to make servers with a No Scenario ruleset.  So yeah, speaking for myself, about all I can say for sure right now, is that they have me for at least a month or two and we'll see how things go from there.

[Mosesandstick]

That is not how I roll. I will, of course, have a sith inquisitor (because he is delicious). But I'm serious about kinda wanting my consular to work well with Mr. Potential Boyfriend. At the same time, I would want a sage, because sages are fun and that's the style I'd want to play in a group. And she could have one of the OTHER boyfriends (They get three! That class is trying so hard to win me away from the arms of the smuggler!).


IF THEY ALLOWED AC SWITCHING THIS WOULDN'T BE A GODDAMN PROBLEM

If you're going to have one anyway my point is moot 

[Velorath]

That is not how I roll. I will, of course, have a sith inquisitor (because he is delicious). But I'm serious about kinda wanting my consular to work well with Mr. Potential Boyfriend. At the same time, I would want a sage, because sages are fun and that's the style I'd want to play in a group. And she could have one of the OTHER boyfriends (They get three! That class is trying so hard to win me away from the arms of the smuggler!).


IF THEY ALLOWED AC SWITCHING THIS WOULDN'T BE A GODDAMN PROBLEM

Look at it this way, you'll probably eventually have at least 32 characters anyway since you'll be compelled to do light and darkside playthroughs of each gender for each class.

[eldaec]

How up to date are the betacake talent trees? Trying to work out how the specs actually play out.

[luckton]

How up to date are the betacake talent trees? Trying to work out how the specs actually play out.

Pick your poison.  Betacake's fallen out of favor since the NDA dropped and the pro's could get their game on.

http://www.torhead.com/calculator/skill
http://db.darthhater.com/skill_calc/jedi_knight/guardian/

[Surlyboi]

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.

Then I must be a special case too, because the only thing i see myself even pausing for when this launches is ME3.

[Lucas]

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

Yep, happened to me too :(

[Lantyssa]

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

If he makes it for more than the cost of a sub during that period, I'll take it, too.

[Sjofn]

That is not how I roll. I will, of course, have a sith inquisitor (because he is delicious). But I'm serious about kinda wanting my consular to work well with Mr. Potential Boyfriend. At the same time, I would want a sage, because sages are fun and that's the style I'd want to play in a group. And she could have one of the OTHER boyfriends (They get three! That class is trying so hard to win me away from the arms of the smuggler!).


IF THEY ALLOWED AC SWITCHING THIS WOULDN'T BE A GODDAMN PROBLEM

Look at it this way, you'll probably eventually have at least 32 characters anyway since you'll be compelled to do light and darkside playthroughs of each gender for each class.

<eye twitch>

Why are you encouraging my sickness?

[Cyrrex]

Skipped the last several pages of this thread, but here are my biggest two gripes:

- The No Clownsuit button needs to come back, but more importantly, they seriously need to add some better cosmetic options.  Everybody runs around looking the goddamned same.  Bugs me far worse than comp armor in SWG.  They need to open up the color pallette and give us some options in a major way.

- I don't know how they could easily address it, and we could see it coming from a mile off, but it also bugs me that all the companions look the same as everyone elses.  You can level up in a zone and see exact copies of yourself and your own companion, down to every last piece of clothing, all over the place.  It makes me wish there was a "play offline" button.

Do either of these things get better later on?  I only ever made it to about 14 in an earlier beta.

Also, didn't there used to be a "loot all mobs" button?  I know there was in my first beta, but I never found it the second time around.

Otherwise, it's the bees knees.

[01101010]

Loot all is a tick box under preferences...either controls or UI. However it would bug out and you'd have to shift-click to get it working again.

[DraconianOne]

- I don't know how they could easily address it, and we could see it coming from a mile off, but it also bugs me that all the companions look the same as everyone elses.  You can level up in a zone and see exact copies of yourself and your own companion, down to every last piece of clothing, all over the place.  It makes me wish there was a "play offline" button.

You can, allegedly, buy customisation kits for your companion to change things like skin colour (see official blog) and I guess, on later levels, it'll be less of an issue because people will have different companions and different classes.

But yeah, on starter worlds it was annoying. Also annoying was hearing other peoples companions all the time.

[Tyrnan]

Also annoying was hearing other peoples companions all the time.

Oh dear God this! I wanted to strangle Mako after a while...

Okay?
Try to be more careful next time.
Okay?
Okay?

They need to add an audio option so you can choose to not hear companions, only your own or everyone's. Other than that, playing a Powertech with a pocket healer was a lot of fun.

[Amaron]

- I don't know how they could easily address it, and we could see it coming from a mile off, but it also bugs me that all the companions look the same as everyone elses.  You can level up in a zone and see exact copies of yourself and your own companion, down to every last piece of clothing, all over the place.  It makes me wish there was a "play offline" button.

This is only a problem at low levels.    Stop worrying about it.

[Numtini]

I think there's a Mako bug. I kept hearing her on a couple of planets, but nowhere in visibility was there a Mako.

[Jherad]

They need to add an audio option so you can choose to not hear companions, only your own or everyone's. Other than that, playing a Powertech with a pocket healer was a lot of fun.

I think there's a bug where you hear other companions even when nobody else is about. I've frequently been in the middle of nowhere, with nobody else in sight, and heard Mako or Khem Val when I've been on my Sith Warrior or Bounty Hunter respectively.

[Tyrnan]

Oh, well hopefully there's a fix for it in the patch they're currently deploying as it was probably the only truly annoying thing I encountered the whole weekend. Well, that and the unmovable interface which sadly isn't a bug

[01101010]

Really have to wonder if the audio companion speech bug was related to my random d/c's. Seemed to always happen when an audio was firing off. And since I had just updated to the newest audio driver for my mobo, I doubt it was on my end.

[VainEldritch]

You can, allegedly, buy customisation kits for your companion to change things like skin colour (see official blog) and I guess, on later levels, it'll be less of an issue because people will have different companions and different classes.

Is companion appearance working as intended? In the blog they do mention a full set of armor slots but as we know, none of the armor actually appears on the companion (I'm talking about Khem Val here). You do get a choice of companion customization kits that changes skin color/tatoos but this is very limited.

I know they also said the at CE store would have some unique companion appearance kits available - still they need to get the appearance slots working for Khem and this will really help avoid the clone wars.

[01101010]

You can, allegedly, buy customisation kits for your companion to change things like skin colour (see official blog) and I guess, on later levels, it'll be less of an issue because people will have different companions and different classes.

Is companion appearance working as intended? In the blog they do mention a full set of armor slots but as we know, none of the armor actually appears on the companion (I'm talking about Khem Val here). You do get a choice of companion customization kits that changes skin color/tatoos but this is very limited.

I know they also said the at CE store would have some unique companion appearance kits available - still they need to get the appearance slots working for Khem and this will really help avoid the clone wars.

Khem is the odd one out. Sadly, I think there will just have to be 400 identical Khems. However, the other companions you can style out with different armors. The blue armor piece the drops in BT makes Mako look bad ass.

[Sky]

I like the anti-clown button, but I still want an appearance tab. It's just a pain in the ass to not have one. I guess in that I'm like the folks bitching about not allowing whatever raid feature :) Also, an appearance tab for the companions.

The companion speech bug was driving me nuts this past weekend. Also a couple times there were npc conversations that seemed to bypass a range check and played full volume through the entire exchange.

As far as years vs months goes, I've ALREADY gotten my money's worth out of TOR, in hours played, and I was only in two weekend tests.

[luckton]

I know that by the time my Sith Warrior was done on the newb planet, I was given two separate choices for Vette-specific goods; three choices for clothing gear and three choices for physical appearance.  Really wish I could have previewed the clothing options before picking, but because it was a chest of goods your were picking, you couldn't.  The physical choices you could, and I could have gotten a yellow Vette, a red Vette, or an alternative looking blue Vette.

One can assume that there will be more choices down the line for all companions.  Plus, there are a few companions that have alternative looks to them, such as Vette (with or without her choking collar), and Dr. Lokin.

[murdoc]

I also am willing to bet no one from this site who buys this at launch will be around 2 months into live.

Oh, I will totally take that bet.

Can you rename your Companions?

[luckton]

Can you rename your Companions?

[Pezzle]

You cannot rename them.  And yes, most companions have a variety of appearance mods you can purchase.  Khem and Qyzen do not right now but that may change in the next build or by release.  Between those and the different gear you pick up there is enough variety for mid ranges.  Honestly, after awhile you stop noticing companions.

[Falconeer]

I also am willing to bet no one from this site who buys this at launch will be around 2 months into live.

This is exactly my point. I bought the game and I have a bunch of friends I am gonna have fun with thanks to the storytelling power (a first for a MMORPG). But we all agree that the game is a circa-2008 sloppy clone of WoW and as such there would be zero reasons to play it if it wasn't for the lack of other new MMORPGs.

What's surprising me is NOT that people are having fun. I am having fun too, I keep stressing this, and I am gonna be there on launch day with my own cat ass ready and willing to spend at least a good month exploring the Mass-Effectesque plots. But the enthusiasm coming from the novelty of the Bioware treatment to the old (and poorly executed) formula of diku doesn't prevent me from saying that everything outside the stories here ranges from bland to shit.

What surprises me is that the majority here seem unable to distinguish between the the puppy love (which is cute), and the overall quality of the product in its genre. A good friend of mine summarized his brief SWTOR experience with: "It's a piece of shit, but I'm having fun for now (4 days)". I agree, I think it sounds contradictory but it's not.
I'm a little worried by the regulars here, who've see everything and you would expect capable of usefully cynical commentary, too busy frothing to notice the blatant shortcomings of this game.

So yes, I bet that even before the two months mark there will be lots of broken hearts, pretending it didn't happen or blaming it on someone else.

[Mrbloodworth]

Sloppy? Its a rather good clone to be honest.

[kildorn]

It is a poor clone in the sense that it's cloning something that has since been improved. It would be like carbon copying your competition's car designs from 1992 instead of copying the improved versions.

The thing for me is that the mechanics they cloned aren't bad, they're just unpolished. And the crap they added to the mechanics amuse me (specifically combat looks far more interesting, even if nothing mechanically is different. They added a very pretty set of wrappers to "Instant: Deals 34-46 fire damage to target" and even "press this to just plain shoot someone as filler" is pretty looking.

I do appreciate that they cloned the whole abilities playing off each other thing WoW did. I think Rift missed there, where pretty much stormcallers were the only class where X skill impacted Y skill if used in the correct order.

SWTOR is a clone of a game we've all played before, with a really pretty wrapper and what amounts to softly enforced RP rules due to the impact the story has on how you actually wind up playing the game. It will stick with people who like that, and it won't stick with MMO nomads who don't like that. Normally I'd be in the second camp and planning to drift off in a few months, but the game is oddly sticking with me more than I thought it would.

[Falconeer]

Really?
Maybe I aged bad, and I got so cynical I became blind then.

It's a cheap clone to me. Nothing feels or looks right outside of cutscenes. The same subtly tiring feeling you have with any generic f2p Korean clone.

Time will tell who's really confused here. I accept it could be me. We'll see.

[ajax34i]

What surprises me is that the majority here seem unable to distinguish between the the puppy love (which is cute), and the overall quality of the product in its genre. A good friend of mine summarized his brief SWTOR experience with: "It's a piece of shit, but I'm having fun for now (4 days)". I agree, I think it sounds contradictory but it's not.

I don't know about "the majority here," but I'm not in the beta (don't want to), and I haven't read reviews or details of the game anywhere else except here, and I got exactly the "it's shit but I'm having fun for now" impression from this thread, together with details about which parts are shit and which parts I can expect to be ok.

What you call "puppy love" is more along the lines of happiness that they're having fun now.  For example, the thread is pretty negative about the future (endgame, raiding, etc), and a lot of the positive posts begin with "I'm only level 15, so..."