Star Wars: The Old Republic Random Question/Discussion thread - F2P

[vrumpt]

They have huge forums where they take discussion, feedback, suggestions, etc. There are a lot of posts per day and mods lurk quite a bit from what I've seen. I think they're hearing the players well enough. Whether they're listening to them or not is another story.

There was a recent post on their forums that sheds light on this

To be fair, feedback from people who are actually playing the game (Game Testers) is more valuable to the development team than feedback from those who have not (much of the Forums). Even then, some decisions have been made (Jedi Wizard -> Sage, anyone?) based off feedback from the wider community.

Makes sense, although they only have a couple thousand players actually playing the game right now.

[Vagrant]

So Troopers are the tanks? That's kinda weird.

Why is that weird? They wear the heaviest armor out of the classes. Jedi Guardians though do seem to be capable of off tanking at least but they are only wearing a robe. Not a whole lot of protection there.

[Grey Jorildyn]

There does appear to be many set and hybrid roles, as you would expect there to be in current-gen mmos. Like the Sage being healer/small dps.

[alexisamonster]

Why is that weird? They wear the heaviest armor out of the classes. Jedi Guardians though do seem to be capable of off tanking at least but they are only wearing a robe. Not a whole lot of protection there.

its not like the trooper is the only tank, from what i've read, theres 2 of the 4 classes can spec into healing roles, and 2 of 4 can spec into tank roles, and your not stuck in one skill tree, you can spec into different trees at the same time

[vrumpt]

Unsure of which advanced classes are which specs, but for the base classes:

Jedi Knight / Sith Warrior : DPS/Tank
Jedi Consular / Sith Inquisitor : Heals/DPS
Smuggler / Imperial Agent : Heals/DPS
Trooper / Bounty Hunter : DPS/Heals/Tank (for this heals and tank are on two different advanced classes).

I don't think trooper is confirmed yet but since faction classes mirror themselves its safe to assume it will be.

Advanced Classes are chosen at level 10, and at this time both internal Bioware and game testers are in heated discussions as to whether or not they should be allowed to respec their advanced class. Class storyline doesn't focus on the advanced class chosen at all, and its easy for them to do, its purely from a design perspective as to whether or not it should be allowed at launch and if it is for what price.

[Draylo]

I always thought Jedi would be a tank more so than a Trooper.

[volcanicweather]

No power/mana regen class?

[Grey Jorildyn]

What does that even mean?

[Purrrfect]

Looks like they're bringing it around. Smuggler looks pretty tempting...

[Grey Jorildyn]

I so badly want to recruit for ths game but without a release date it seems stupid. Game looks amazing. Would like to see more space battle and solo gameplay videos as well.

[Katlan]

That UI is so ugly it hurts my eyes. Beta this, beta that, but how can they even make something so atrocious and toss it into a beta. It's as obtrusive as a UI can get and it takes up way to much screen while taking up un-needed space

[Grey Jorildyn]

It has that "star wars feel". It isn't that much different than KotoR and that's where they're coming from on this one methinks. It could be toned down a bit though, but I really do think the feel is right. I can forgive a cluttered UI as long as the game is good/great/enjoyable. Don't give us another FFXIV (and that gameplay video shows it already has more content than FFXIV); something that looks pretty yet is downright dysfunctional.

[vrumpt]

That UI is so ugly it hurts my eyes. Beta this, beta that, but how can they even make something so atrocious and toss it into a beta. It's as obtrusive as a UI can get and it takes up way to much screen while taking up un-needed space

That UI isn't final. They were telling people at PAX, and i even think there was a Q&A question about it, but the UI is only temporary, and changes will be made. I'll try to find the question about it.

Also, game isn't in beta yet. Its in testing.

EDIT: Couldn't find the PAX question, but found this excerpt from about a month ago in a post made by Georg Zouller (Principle Lead Combat Designer) on the forums.

The way game development works is that you often create assets during early development that eventually get replaced.

For example, you need a movement animation in the game as a prerequisite for pretty much anything else involving a character.

Usually, all those early assets will get replaced with their final versions later in development – at a time when all the details have been worked out (e.g. the character speeds have been fixed, their special attacks are known, etc.).

This is true for all kinds of assets. Animations. Sounds. Weapons, etc. We’ve mentioned that almost nothing about the UI is final – again, it’s much more important to get a functional and somewhat presentable prototype UI in place to allow development and testing of dependent features than it is to get everything beautiful, right and polished the first time.

There’ll be still quite a few of those kind of functional placeholders (such as the UI) in the game around PAX, but you’ll also see a lot of things that used to be placeholder in their final versions.

The UI that was at PAX is the same one we've seen for the past 2 years. My guess is once they get all the PH stuff replaced with final versions they'll start pushing closed beta (i hope, i really really hope).

[Draylo]

I dunno, I'm kinda tired of every MMO going for WoW like gameplay and interface but I guess there isn't much else to do? The lore and world behind Star Wars should be enough to make this a good competitor. Just hope the people who trashed SWG don't get anywhere near this lol

[Gryffes]

I dunno, I'm kinda tired of every MMO going for WoW like gameplay and interface but I guess there isn't much else to do?l

Come visit the tera thread, MMO done differently and well.

[Insanecyclone]

I dunno, I'm kinda tired of every MMO going for WoW like gameplay and interface but I guess there isn't much else to do? The lore and world behind Star Wars should be enough to make this a good competitor. Just hope the people who trashed SWG don't get anywhere near this lol

That eq ui is what works out now. It's still way better than most UIs.

[vrumpt]

I dunno, I'm kinda tired of every MMO going for WoW like gameplay and interface but I guess there isn't much else to do? The lore and world behind Star Wars should be enough to make this a good competitor. Just hope the people who trashed SWG don't get anywhere near this lol

I really think the abilities is whats gonna help set it apart. This isn't just another medeival style fantasy game with elves and goblins; its star wars and its sci-fi. The dialogue wheel will also add in a ton of decision making points along the way, which will be great for people who appreciate Mass Effect, bad for people who don't.

Also what are you gonna expect from the interface? first off nobody knows what the final design is gonna look like, secondly MMO interface design has been standard through like, All MMOs ever. Kinda like how FPS controls have been the same for all games over the past decade. Its familiar and people get it. They can just jump into the game without having to re-learn new button configurations. Its been a standard design feature since EQ.

Come visit the tera thread, MMO done differently and well.

Can you be so sure? its asian. I can never trust another asian developer after Aion. Everything i hear/see says its gonna be nothing but a total grindfest with repetitive gameplay, although newer it may be, with slutty bunnies and devil women wearing bikinis. I don't care about shitty new gameplay if the way i use it is boring as fuck. At least in TOR the story is gonna be good enough for people to give a damn about what they are doing in it.

[Hyan]

I really think the abilities is whats gonna help set it apart. This isn't just another medeival style fantasy game with elves and goblins; its star wars and its sci-fi. The dialogue wheel will also add in a ton of decision making points along the way, which will be great for people who appreciate Mass Effect, bad for people who don't.

What I didn't like about the vid was how when grouping its random whose decision is the one the NPC will choose. That kinda makes me want to just solo the mission if my decision won't be taken into account. They should have just made group missions have no dialogue wheel imo. I did like the over-all presentation.

The yoda NPC looked actually very nice, but the characters themselves are still... meh. They seem to have improved the graphics on that front though, which is good.

[vrumpt]

What I didn't like about the vid was how when grouping its random whose decision is the one the NPC will choose. That kinda makes me want to just solo the mission if my decision won't be taken into account.

You still get your light side or dark side points for the decision you chose regardless of who wins the roll. The outcome however remains the same. None of the group content will have decisions serious enough that will make you wanna re-roll if you lose, its gonna be all dialogue flavor for the most part. Most of the serious decisions, like if somebody lives or dies, will/can be made by yourself. There may be exceptions, i have no idea though.

[Gryffes]

Can you be so sure? its asian. I can never trust another asian developer after Aion. Everything i hear/see says its gonna be nothing but a total grindfest with repetitive gameplay, although newer it may be, with slutty bunnies and devil women wearing bikinis. I don't care about shitty new gameplay if the way i use it is boring as fuck. At least in TOR the story is gonna be good enough for people to give a damn about what they are doing in it.

I'm playing the Korean release right now, it isn't a grindfest, it is fun.
You can make elite mob parties and they work a lot like FFXI levelling parties but more active ( and not as strict on party size/etc ).

The main problem w/ aion was lack of content updates ( levelling exp requirement got nerfbatted pretty hard after a few months ), TERA has already had it's first korean expansion ( ie content update ) 2 days ago, so there will be no Aion repeat. There are already more instances in the game than Aion had after it's 1st year of western release.