This is what? The seventh or so rewrite of this post? When making a post like this it’s hard to find the right tone and the right way of expressing ideas without falling in rage filled post, design philosophy discussions and rants. So I’m going to restrain myself a bit and do this in bullet point form, simple is better no?
Here’s how this will work, I do this as if I was addressing Bioware directly. Each point will list an issue I feel is important to me along with the fix I’d like to see and I’ll try to keep things to the point and short. Finally, this list is not ordered in order of importance.
- Communication: I’d like to know exactly what is the state of the game. How do you guys view the next year. I’d also like to see a detailed list of all the issues you are working on and those you are not and why. Posts along the lines of the Letters from the producer from FFIV would be great.
- Engine performance: Unexplainable slow downs, loading screens take too long and responsiveness problems. Now I know these kinds of fixes are complicated but they are critical and you guys need to figure this out. At the very least, take us through what has been done so far and what you intend to do with his.
- Game bugs: Some bugs have been present since launch. Graphics effects not appearing, recurring issues on the GTN, respawning or missing mobs, quest issues, etc… Not only do you need to fix them but they also need not to come back. Again, a road map would be appreciated here.
- End game progression: Flashpoints to heroics flashpoints to story mode ops to hard mode ops to nightmare mode. That’s the way we expect it to be and that’s how it should be. Now, when some Heroic flashpoints are harder than ops there’s a problem and you need to fix it.
- End game gear progression: Each tier should gear me enough to start doing the next tier. Right now there’s a wall between story mode and hard mode EC that needs to disappear. To a lesser degree, there’s also one between normal flashpoints and heroic flashpoints we could do without.
- Gearing up should not be a chore: I should not have to do dailies every day to be able to gear up to finally stand a chance to take down the next boss. Chores are no fun and do not make me want to play your game.
I’m writing this and I realize that what I’m asking for is not new features or new crazy stuff. I just want Bioware to clean up their house and improve what they have already in place. I really hope that’s not too much to ask. If any of you want to add to this feel free to in the comments.
Hear, Hear!! Under Communication and state of the game; people would like to know what is going on with F2P? As subscribers are we or are we not going to get screwed? For some reason there is very little detail on something that is supposedly getting implemented next month. I am inclined to believe that Bio is not telling because they don’t want a mass exodus of people. I am still playing because I think there is hope to save a game I love, but let me make an informed decision instead of just dropping it on me. Wor to the wise Bio, no one likes unpleasant surprises.
My guild solved all these problems with the game. Our solution – we left SWTOR and switched to GW2.
Have you done any hard mode flashpoints lately? Because they’ve been nerfed a lot since the game’s release. The only one that’s still hard IMO is Lost Island, but that one’s meant to be a step up from the rest.
SM/HM EC? Agreed. SM / HM FP? Disagree. SM is dropping Tionese isn’t it? Even if not, the free pvp gear is enough to start doing HM FP and SM Ops. My guild’s fresh 50′s start running with us in that and I think across the guild, SM FP’s have been run a total of 3x by 2 people. As far as dailies, IMO the actual dailies aren’t worth doing unless you really want Rakata Implants instead of the free pvp ones. Doing one random FP a day for BH comms isn’t too big a deal, even if I’m personally not doing that. I think the gearing on EV and KP was set up pretty well. You felt like you needed to get gear from EV and HM FP for that extra hp and dps stat’ing to feel comfortable in KP. After you’ve got mostly columi, EV HM because doable, progressing to farmable as people get gear and improve their non-dps mechanics, both individiually and as a group. Somewhere along the way, KP HM would reach the same farmable status, but IMO is only worth running for the rakata main hand.
EC is where things went out of whack. To beat it while learning it, you needed full rakata. It was doable with a C/R mix, but only if everyone was on their game. Removing BH comms from it was a poor choice from the players pov, but somewhat understandable from a design standpoint. I’m on the fence as to whether I like that or not, leaning towards not since TOR has lost a lot of shine for me and I’m only logging on for ops. Essentially they’ve taken Campaign gear out of the rotation for not hardcore but not casual guilds. Anything above BH probably won’t be attainable (and even BH progression is slowed massively), unless TFB HM is easier than EC HM (or they continue to nerf difficulties).
Bioware does need to improve communication, but at this point, it’s put up or shut up time. Stop telling us about how things are going to be awesome and how you’re going to meet self imposed deadlines, and start meeting them. Stop saying “soon” when you mean “I have no idea.” If you have to be vague, then it’s a topic you shouldn’t be discussing.
For me personally, I’m getting into WoW for the first time, (hence TOR going to “ops only” mode), just started the MoP area on “just reached 85 for the first time” toon. I feel like the end game there is going to offer more for me personally. Challenge modes, nuff said. If TOR had something like that, with rewards like that, it’d be a good thing. It’d help players improve and thus be able to handle EC HM and TFB HM as they improve their gear from HM EV/KP, and their skills from challenge modes.
@shinat and mooftak. I admit to not have run a lot of heroic flashpoint recently but the few I did felt pretty much the same as they did when I first did them back when I hit 50. Could be mistaken here but I wasn’t seeing the difference. I’m glad if they really fixed that part.