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

[Paelos]

It shows we're a high level forum when we're correcting grammatical errors instead of tolerating kiddyspeak

[01101010]

It shows we're a high level forum when we're correcting grammatical errors instead of tolerating kiddyspeak

Insert <bubblepipe.jpg>

[Lakov_Sanite]

I would of preferred a silly meme pic.

[Paelos]

I would of preferred a silly meme pic.

[Surlyboi]

Bonus points for the topical Brady Burn.

I hear there's a cream for that...

[tmp]

(I have NO IDEA which stance is "better" for the melee DPSers)

Melee seem to come with the tank stance and the "don't mind me, moar dps" stance. So depending on whether you want them to tank at all, that's fairly straightforward i think.

(the aoe abilities, i generally have them enabled until a gold or two silvers show up. Then between the companion's and my own aoe stuff dies fast, and toggling these abilities off/on is like, two clicks and two keypresses. Not too annoying)

[Merusk]

No, your melee tank comes that way.  Your dps has a bleed/dot stance and an armor penetration stance.

I don't think it's any coincidence that I prefer the melee characters on my Marauder and Powertech, both of whom are Melee-centric anyway.  If I were ranged, I could understand the frustration.  It's probably the same frustration I have with ranged DPS (and Healers) who always seem to stand in the way of a pathing mob or back up right in to other mob groups as I'm leaping in to the fray.

[tmp]

No, your melee tank comes that way.  Your dps has a bleed/dot stance and an armor penetration stance.

Ahh, that one. Yeah then, it's more tricky and can't say i have any real opinion on these myself. I leave her in the pentration stance simply because activating the other seems to cause her run around with the weapon drawn all the time after the summon, as result of stance animation.

[01101010]

No, your melee tank comes that way.  Your dps has a bleed/dot stance and an armor penetration stance.

Bleed for shit that can bleed. Armor pen for droids and heavy armor... though I just go with the bleed for the heavy armor anyway. But Armor Pen definitely for droids. 

[Ingmar]

Droids can bleed AFAIK ("internal damage").

[tmp]

Hell, given they have balls for the smugglers to kick, they definitely have some circuits for bleeding, too.

(not to mention there's "apathy circuit" or smth to that effect that shows up routinely in the junk they drop)

[Zetor]

I always use the bleed stance on my consular's melee companion... just seems to do more damage over time (especially since AOEs seem to apply it to every mob in range).

[Lantyssa]

Bleed is internal damage, so it isn't resisted much.

[Sjofn]

... and they don't have any goddamn annoying abilities that make you want to punch them. Sneaky knockbacks and such annoy me.

How about those lovely AE abilities that the melee compansions use when you've just mezzed that second strong mob add. 

I agree that the melee dps companions require more micromanagement. It makes them a tough choice with all other things being equal.  Lately I've just been using the companion with the best gear.  Gear makes such a huge difference in these games.

I've taken to just turning off the melee people's AE, now that it actually stays turned off. This was particularly important to do for my consular's melee DPSer, as it was an AE knockback. 

I tend to have my melee DPSers use the armor pen one, but I really just sort of throw up my hands on it.

[eldaec]

I use bleed stance for shit that is going to last long enough for the bleed to get applied and actually bleed out. Which is basically just elites and above.

Penetration stance for everything else.

[Ingmar]

Penetration stance for everything else.

Assume the position?

[Ratman_tf]

(not to mention there's "apathy circuit" or smth to that effect that shows up routinely in the junk they drop)

I want a power that affects a droid's apathy circuits.
"Just give up man, where is this battle droid gig getting you anyway?"

[Der Helm]

You would think with the number of times we correct this mistake, people would stop doing it. What you mean is "would've." Or would HAVE.

 

A shame you are already married. 

[Sjofn]

It may be part of the reason he married me. 

[Furiously]

I got a "So why did you unsubscribe?" email/survey from TOR today.

It's interesting, because in a lot of ways, you are not playing a game, you are living a story. And when it ends, there isn't a lot to do but start the book again from another character's perspective, the only problem is you know 75% of how that book is going to be as well.

[eldaec]

I'm coming to the end of my first character, and yeah, the second half of the game is so dominated by common quests that I'm struggling to summon the motivation for another playthrough on the same faction.


For a content based game, it basically needs a lot more content.

[Merusk]

I got a "So why did you unsubscribe?" email/survey from TOR today.

It's interesting, because in a lot of ways, you are not playing a game, you are living a story. And when it ends, there isn't a lot to do but start the book again from another character's perspective, the only problem is you know 75% of how that book is going to be as well.

Well you can't say they aren't looking for feedback.  I got a "we value your opinion" email Monday asking me to send a freeform opinion e-mail to them with, "my thoughts on the game."

[ajax34i]

And I'm getting a little bit of a response to tickets.  Like, if you open a ticket and they automatic reply and close it, and you re-open with "No I do not consider the matter resolved" they'll try.  The GM's really should have tools to add/remove/reset bugged quests for players, so I'm hoping something positive gets done as a result of my little tantrum to remove 1 stuck quest from my log.

For the record, if you get a quest to enter an instance and do something, and in the instance you get a (Bonus) quest to kill the minions there, make sure you finish the (Bonus) quest or else when you complete the main quest you won't be able to re-enter the instance to finish the (Bonus).  And you can't abandon the (Bonus) from your log, probably because it's a (Bonus).  And if you try to group up with someone else who is on the main quest, you can follow them and enter the instance but you get no credit for kills.  Thus can't complete the (Bonus) and it's stuck in your log, and you must petition.  And that may lead to a "wait for a future patch" response.

[tmp]

For a content based game, it basically needs a lot more content.

To be fair, compared to BioWare's single player offerings it already does have lot of content -- using Dragon Age for comparison, there's 8 full lenght class storylines vs 6 single short chapters for each 'origin', ~15 large game areas vs 5-6 or so, etc. Heck, any single flashpoint is about as large as any DA zone/dungeon.

Think the problem is in part with how this content is provided wholesale, and with the people's unability to pace themselves. It seems common for the players to operate in "must do ALL the quests!" mode when playing their first character, even though this make them constantly bitch about spending too much time on each planet and how they're then x levels too old for whatever next planet is there in the pipeline. And then when they make second character they start to bitch they've already done it all. Which is a "well, duh" at that point.

[eldaec]

After act1 you will struggle to keep up with the levels required for your story if you don't complete the planet storyline and at least a decent percentage of the trash quests and bonus quests.

Plus the storyline for each class is not close to being as long or as complex as the main storyline from kotor, a BG, or DAO.

[eldaec]

BTW, I don't hate the game or anything, but there is nowhere near enough content to see me through more than a couple of playthroughs.

It isn't Kotor 3-10. It is maybe Kotor 3 and 4.

[tmp]

After act1 you will struggle to keep up with the levels required for your story if you don't complete the planet storyline and at least a decent percentage of the trash quests and bonus quests.

Plus the storyline for each class is not close to being as long or as complex as the main storyline from kotor, a BG, or DAO.

Well, since Taris (republic side so like, early) i've been able to comfortably sit at the recommended level running just the planet storyline and the class quest pretty much. From Quesh onwards i didn't even complete the planet stories, but just left them at the point it made sense for the character to do so. Might've done a few of the secondary quests here and there, but the bulk was left untouched for the future playthroughs. Practically all group quests were left to rot, too.

The flashpoints (ran just 1-2 times each) and the space shooter seem to provide enough xp to let you be pretty picky with the quests you do. And that's also without participating in pvp in any way (which would be another xp source otherwise)

As for the complexity... dunno, wouldn't say either KotOR or DAO had all that long or complex story in comparison. A lot of what you do in these games would fall under the "planet storyline" parts of SWTOR, imo.

[Hutch]

I got a "So why did you unsubscribe?" email/survey from TOR today.

Hey thanks for the heads up. I wasn't checking that email account. (I made it specifically for EA game accounts).

[Nevermore]

And I'm getting a little bit of a response to tickets.  Like, if you open a ticket and they automatic reply and close it, and you re-open with "No I do not consider the matter resolved" they'll try.  The GM's really should have tools to add/remove/reset bugged quests for players, so I'm hoping something positive gets done as a result of my little tantrum to remove 1 stuck quest from my log.

For the record, if you get a quest to enter an instance and do something, and in the instance you get a (Bonus) quest to kill the minions there, make sure you finish the (Bonus) quest or else when you complete the main quest you won't be able to re-enter the instance to finish the (Bonus).  And you can't abandon the (Bonus) from your log, probably because it's a (Bonus).  And if you try to group up with someone else who is on the main quest, you can follow them and enter the instance but you get no credit for kills.  Thus can't complete the (Bonus) and it's stuck in your log, and you must petition.  And that may will always lead to a "wait for a future patch" response.

[Draegan]

So I played an operative and a BH to Lvl 40 and just started a Jedi knight.  Yeah this game really is better with lightsabers.

[Threash]

Not always, i much prefer my BH to my sith assassin.  Specifically because the double lightsaber animations are just derpy.

[Nebu]

Not always, i much prefer my BH to my sith assassin.  Specifically because the double lightsaber animations are just derpy.

Or because the BH is crazy powerful in comparison?  Mercs and Powertechs are crazy good in both pve and pvp.

I love my shadow, but the class is so cooldown dependent that it can be frustrating at times.

[Threash]

Not always, i much prefer my BH to my sith assassin.  Specifically because the double lightsaber animations are just derpy.

Or because the BH is crazy powerful in comparison?  Mercs and Powertechs are crazy good in both pve and pvp.

I love my shadow, but the class is so cooldown dependent that it can be frustrating at times.

That helped too but i played and soured on the assassin before i ever started the BH.

[Cyrrex]

I just started alt-ing a BH (heh, my main is only 34 or something....I am slooooow), and I think they really did a good job of making you feel powerful in the early going.  I mean, I am shooting rockets in people's faces from the get-go and just mowing through the mobs.  It also looks and sounds fantastic.

[Draegan]

My first character was a Merc BH and I got bored of bending over and shooting missile off of my back all day.  It is a great class though.