Predictions: 1m+ players 3 days out; how about in January 2013?

[Reg]

That missing combat log is totally spoiling the game for you isn't it?

[Ingmar]

1.  How is my tank character balanced vs. the other 2 tanks?  Their stuns are actually instant, I imagine.

You do have an instant stun; it is called hilt strike. Actually 2: force stasis.

[Nevermore]

1.  How is my tank character balanced vs. the other 2 tanks?  Their stuns are actually instant, I imagine.

Shadows don't even get an AoE stun.

[Fordel]

Is your tank a Trooper?


No? Then you are inferior!

[Mazakiel]

I don't really know enough to make a guess at actual numbers, but I expect population will drop in about 3 months as the crankier people fade away, but overall the game will continue to build longterm.  I avoid the official forums as I always do in these games, so the only complaints I hear is from everyone here.  Everyone else I've interacted with has seemed genuinely happy with the game overall.  I know I am.  Hell, it even has me PvPing of my own free will, something that a MMO hasn't accomplished in years. 

There are things that annoy me, sure, but I don't see anything to warrant all the negativity and doom-casting.  If and when I get tired of TOR and unsubscribe, there won't be any other MMOs that I'll be heading too.  WoW has nothing for me, and Rift bored me to tears. 

[UnSub]

One thing I wonder if you guys are underestimating is character investment. I feel really attached to my character unlike most MMOs. It's very much like I get attached to my Commander Shepard in Mass Effect.

I really want to love this game, but my guild is already growing weary of the lack of things to do besides reroll.

I think these are the contrasting points on this issue. You can have investment in a character and their story, but then the story ends and then you are left paying $15 a month to be patient or roll another alt. That's the issue with story - on-rails narrative stories end.

[Kageru]

And character investment actually discourages the interest in alts to some extent. If people really like the character they want to continue playing / extending it.

[Furiously]

There are some voice actors I just can't make myself identify with. There are probably 4-5 classes I just can't play.

[Sjofn]

There are some voice actors I do not want (mostly Commander Shepard and LadyHawke), but the male counterpart (oddly, Varric is the male trooper and that doesn't bother me at all) works fine in those cases for me. So lucky me, I guess!

[FieryBalrog]

As an example, Jedi Knights have an AoE instant stun ability called Force Sweep.  The ability description says it's instant.  You activate it, and your toon crouches down, then jumps into the air, then slams back into the ground and creates a wave that stuns everyone around you. 

Heh. I thought that was a cool ability.

There's a real disconnect between the mmo fans and the casual fans. I hope they don't go to far in trying to please you guys, because honestly none of you are going to be playing in three months even if they fix every thing you perceive as a problem.

It ain't a casual vs hardcore thing. I'm a casual player, yet responsive and fluid combat is like... the biggest issue I have with games. It's certainly my biggest issue with this one.

[VainEldritch]

There are some voice actors I just can't make myself identify with. There are probably 4-5 classes I just can't play.

Male Sith Warrior voice actor is terrible - sounds like he's reading the dialogue from cards over the telephone and his intonation is pretty similar for everything he says.

On the other hand, both the male and female Sith Inquisitors are good 'n' snarky (especially the female).

But yeah, I feel a much greater attachment to my characters in SWTOR and it doesn't discourage me from rolling alts. Heck, the legacy system had given Dynastic delusions... 

[El Gallo]

What are the combat responsiveness issues?

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=95738

Bioware's recognized it as a problem; no ETA on fix.

[Wolf]

I've seen most of these ingame, but I just call it "culnky" or broken and move on. Good to see someone cares enough to records videos and discuss it, hope they can actually fix all of those.

btw, if you watch one movie, watch this one it really illustrates the problem well.

[Miasma]

There are some voice actors I just can't make myself identify with. There are probably 4-5 classes I just can't play.

Male Sith Warrior voice actor is terrible - sounds like he's reading the dialogue from cards over the telephone and his intonation is pretty similar for everything he says.

Male sith warrior is awesome, the actor is at least a third of the reason I stick with the class despite it feeling weak compared to a bounty hunter.  The other two thirds being that I like the story and am too far along to quit now.  Both male jedi voices put me to sleep.

I've seen most of these ingame, but I just call it "culnky" or broken and move on. Good to see someone cares enough to records videos and discuss it, hope they can actually fix all of those.

btw, if you watch one movie, watch this one it really illustrates the problem well.

The problem in that video is what bothers me the most in terms of responsiveness.  It's as though the server checks to see if you are moving causing lag to be a factor whereas WoW lets the client decide if you are standing still.  It's frustrating because if I'm not pushing any other button, meaning I'm clearly not moving, I should be able to cast whaterver I want.

As a melee character I shouldn't have to stand still for any of my moves but that's a seperate gripe...

[Sjofn]

I also feel much more attached to my characters, but it mostly results in me thinking "I can't just ABANDON THEM" and wanting to level them through their story. I am failing Kalah in my inability to solo as a gunslinger without wanting to kill myself. 

[01101010]

I also feel much more attached to my characters, but it mostly results in me thinking "I can't just ABANDON THEM" and wanting to level them through their story. I am failing Kalah in my inability to solo as a gunslinger without wanting to kill myself. 

Coming across the crossover storylines is motivating me to take a hell of a lot more interest in parts of the game I took for granted.

[tmp]

Coming across the crossover storylines is motivating me to take a hell of a lot more interest in parts of the game I took for granted.

It'd be cool if there were crossovers between your actual characters -- that is, if say, you had an IA then they'd make appearance in another character's story at some point, appearance, gear et al (replaced with some stock IA for those without one)

If it already happens, then disregard that

[Ratman_tf]

The problem in that video is what bothers me the most in terms of responsiveness.  It's as though the server checks to see if you are moving causing lag to be a factor whereas WoW lets the client decide if you are standing still.  It's frustrating because if I'm not pushing any other button, meaning I'm clearly not moving, I should be able to cast whaterver I want.

As a melee character I shouldn't have to stand still for any of my moves but that's a seperate gripe...

WoW seems to have much more robust client side prediction.

[Sky]

btw, if you watch one movie, watch this one it really illustrates the problem well.

Wtf was that? I've never had a problem pressing a button and having my ability fire off. I'm not trying to be all fanboy on this, I've honestly thought the combat is pretty awesome. I do run with 1s ability queues (though I'd prefer a full length ability queue, not including that option is dumb).

Maybe it's my awesome internets 

I just hope they put in a fix that doesn't diminish the coolness of the animations. Cue someone bitching about how shitty the animations are.

[Mrbloodworth]

It seems that Wow players like having the damage attributed, BEFORE you swing your arm. Only time I have felt any real disconnect was during heavy load areas.

[Nebu]

Wtf was that? I've never had a problem pressing a button and having my ability fire off. I'm not trying to be all fanboy on this, I've honestly thought the combat is pretty awesome. I do run with 1s ability queues (though I'd prefer a full length ability queue, not including that option is dumb).

Maybe it's my awesome internets 

The activation delay is bad in instances and worse in pvp.  I've had abilities take over 2s to fire in pvp.  It's incredibly frustrating.

[Bunk]

I really haven't seen this combat sluggishness people talk about. I remember WAR beta - click a button, half a second later the button highlights, half a second later the power goes off. Never had anything like that here.

I do get a little peaved when I go to hit someone and nothing happens, but in that particular case, its because they were already killed by Vette, and they just haven't bothered to fall over yet.

I judge longevity based on the average player, not the hardcore. I've been playing since prelaunch, devoting all my video game time to basicaly just this, and my highest level guy just hit 30. This game will keep me busy for months and months.

[tmp]

The problem in that video is what bothers me the most in terms of responsiveness.  It's as though the server checks to see if you are moving causing lag to be a factor whereas WoW lets the client decide if you are standing still.  It's frustrating because if I'm not pushing any other button, meaning I'm clearly not moving, I should be able to cast whaterver I want.

As a melee character I shouldn't have to stand still for any of my moves but that's a seperate gripe...

WoW seems to have much more robust client side prediction.

If i recall right, WoW is letting the client determine large part of character movement/collision and deals with inevitable hacks that followed as result by forcing everyone to run dedicated spyware checking for said hacks. SWTOR on the other hand seems to follow the "never trust the client" route more.

[Zetor]

It seems that Wow players like having the damage attributed, BEFORE you swing your arm. Only time I have felt any real disconnect was during heavy load areas.

We like having our abilities actually work when we use them, yes   (especially in pvp)

edit: to elaborate - if I press my interrupt hotkey while an enemy is casting a 2-second spell, I want the interrupt to go off NOW and interrupt whatever the opponent is casting... not go off 1.5 seconds later and whiff, go on cooldown, etc. In SWTOR an 'instant' off-GCD interrupt can take an extra second or two depending on circumstances. Latency by itself is a big enough problem, why compound it with unresponsive skills?
If animations are so very important to see to their conclusions, then give the abilities they're attached to a casting bar. An 'instant' attack should not have a 2-second uninterruptable undocumented aftercast animation.

[Mrbloodworth]

It seems that Wow players like having the damage attributed, BEFORE you swing your arm. Only time I have felt any real disconnect was during heavy load areas.

We like having our abilities actually work when we use them, yes   (especially in pvp)

Yes. Dam them for waiting for the projectile to connect with the target before attributing damage.
Dam them for requiring your arm to swing in a non-super hero speed before damage is attributed.

On and on.  

There is a difference between hitting a key and having the ability fire ( Animation and Effect/Affect ). And what most are arguing ( On the Main Forum ), that animation, and by that, time, should not be a factor.

[Zetor]

It seems that Wow players like having the damage attributed, BEFORE you swing your arm. Only time I have felt any real disconnect was during heavy load areas.

We like having our abilities actually work when we use them, yes   (especially in pvp)

Yes. Dam them for waiting for the projectile to connect with the target before attributing damage.
Dam them for requiring your arm to swing in a non-super hero speed before damage is attributed.

On and on.  

There is a difference between hitting a key and having the ability fire ( Animation and Effect/Affect ). And what most are arguing ( On the Main Forum ), that animation, and by that, time, should not be a factor.

I can live with locking up whoever thought non-responsiveness is a good idea here. :p
Anyway, copying my edit here - if animations are so important, match them to the way the abilities actually work. Give those 'instant' melee/ranged attacks a casting time/channel bar, and do away with normal cast bars entirely. That's what COH does, and it's ok (and I don't touch pvp there for that reason). This is a mmog, there is 500+ms network latency in play already, compounding that with undocumented unavoidable aftercast animations is making things worse with no apparent benefit. Responsiveness > everything. If I press my interrupt hotkey while an enemy is casting a 2-second spell, I want the interrupt to go off NOW and interrupt whatever the opponent is casting... not go off 1.5 seconds later and whiff, go on cooldown, etc.

[rattran]

The problem is with INSTANT actions, like interrupts. If that champ mob is using their heal, I only have about 1 second to hit my interrupt. Even with the gcd finished, any animation going on from previous abilities will delay my instant interrupt until they're done. Which means the mob has healed, and I've blown my interrupt. So they can start another heal, I get to wait 8 secs to try again, or use one of the other ghetto interrupts like backhand, which has the same issues.

[Mrbloodworth]

This seems to come up in every MMO that has a unique animation per ability.

[Miasma]

Someone make a zombie thread so I can say "Zombies have been done to death" please.

[tmp]

Clearly, the solution is to remove either animations or interrupts

[Miasma]

WoW waits until abilities hit to score the damage, swtor seems to score them immedietly (or tries to).

[Merusk]

This seems to come up in every MMO that has a unique animation per ability.

Only because every MMO seems to let the animations determine the timing of ability firing rather than the reverse.   As someone in one of the TOR forum threads pointed out, WOW will interrupt the animation of an ability with a flourish to begin a new cast animation.

[Sky]

I'd rather have cool animations.

[Ingmar]

I know they can let things fire instantly and interrupt an animation, because I have a couple off-the-GCD abilities that do just that. That said I don't see a big responsiveness problem, we're not talking about LOTRO here.

[Cadaverine]

The only problem I've encountered with the animations is when I use an ability with a cast time longer than the GCD, and try to use another ability before the animation on the first has completed, the second ability fires off, but no damage is done.  I.E. I fire off Tracer Missle, and as the cast bar completes, I use Rail Shot.  The cool down for Rail Shot will activate, and I'll see the Rail Shot animation, and here the shot, but no damage will be done, based on the scrolling combat text.  Nor will I get a miss/dodge/etc. result.  I had the same issue during the earlier levels on my BH when using say, Unload, followed by my Flamethrower ability.  The Flamethrower animation would play, but no damage would be done.

Unfortunately, with no sort of combat log, I can't verify that nothing is happening, but from what I tell it isn't.